Beyond Caring
by lauren2381
Summary: The next time that Clay woke up, Emma was lying down next to him curled in between a pillow and a spare blanket that she had pulled from the closet. Reaching over to put a piece of hair behind her ear from in front of her face, Clay was struck by how much he cared for this girl, how much he was growing to love her. He needed to talk to Jason about this, Clay thought ruefully.
1. Chapter 1

Emma walked quickly through the halls of the naval base, slightly unsure of where she was going. She'd been on the base before, but only with her mom and that had been many years ago and she didn't exactly remember where everything was. If she was being honest with herself, she also wasn't paying that much attention to the directions the kind gentleman gave her when she presented her military ID, as she was slightly panicked, wanting to get to Clay as soon as possible. It wasn't often that she got direct phone calls from Aunt Lisa, but when she did, Emma tended to take notice, especially when the call came from onboard a C-17. Finally seeing the flag that boasted Bravo's symbol, Emma sat down by Clay's cage and waited, sure that they would be landing soon. Glancing down at her phone, she saw that the boys were due on the tarmac in a few minutes so it wouldn't be too long of a wait.

After another successful mission, Clay wasn't sure why he felt so crappy. He got to make fun of Sonny's fear of sharks, schwack a few bad guys, and didn't have to translate for anyone; all in all a good mission. Coughing again, Clay contemplated taking another liquid gel, but that would make four for today, double the recommended dose for one 24 hours period. Clay knew that he should go get Trent, he was most likely dehydrated and catching the same flu that Emmie had, but then again he didn't exactly want to admit to the guys exactly how he had gotten sick. Thinking about kissing Emma left a dopey grin on his face, reminiscing about her soft skin and smooth lips, and the way her arms wrapped around his shoulders. The way that she fit under his chin. A boot kicking his hammock shook his out of his thoughts as Sonny walked past him.

"Lookie here at Romeo with the stupid grin on his face. Two guesses as to what he's thinkin' about" Sonny chuckled, happy that Clay had something to smile about for once. When Clay didn't respond to his jibe, Sonny took a closer look at Clay. A pale face, sweat soaked forehead, and red eyes looked back up at him as if they were willing him to stop the motion of the hammock.

"Trent!" Sonny hollered, which got everyone's heads to pop up. Everyone for the most part accepted that he was going to be teasing Clay for the foreseeable future about the 'thing' that was between him and Emma, but Sonny calling for the medic? That was different, that was serious.

"What's up Son," Trent said from his corner in the back where he was studying a medical textbook, something about the pathophysiology of dehydration or some other nonsense that only made sense to Trent.

"Need you to come take a look at Romeo, he's got that look that Sunshine had."

With a sigh, Trent closed his book and got ready to tell Sonny that all Clay needed was some good sleep and for him to stop yammering about a relationship that no one really wanted to examine too closely, it was his niece after all. But when he got closer to Clay and really looked at the kid, he couldn't ignore the miserable look on his face.

"Sonny, I have a cold. It'll go away. We've all been spun up sick a time or two-" and with that the meager food that Clay had managed to eat while on a mission came up.

By now, all eyes were on Sonny and Clay, and Trent ambled back to the other end of the plane to get his med kit. Drawing up a syringe of promethazine, he prepared to inject the kid before he could hurl anything else and dehydrate on him. Swiftly jabbing the needle in the muscle of his arm, Trent waited for the entire amount of medication to go in before getting him up and settling him in another hammock. After a few minutes Trent assumed that everything was going to be fine and sat back down next to Jason.

"He good," Jason said to Trent, worried that he wasn't going to be able to go from one spin up to the next. The call had come in just as they were finishing up the first OP.

"Should be, if it's the same thing that Em had we caught it early and can treat the symptoms while we do the next OP."

But of course, this was Clay and nothing could be further from the truth. Something was going to go wrong. Minutes pass, the plane was getting closer and closer to home base where they would fuel up and grab new gear before heading back out to the jungle. Clay shot up, looked back at Trent, and proceeded to get out of his hammock and vomit violently into the hammock that he had previously ruined.

Trent sighed, Jason cursed, and Lisa got out her phone.

"What do you boys want me to do?" Lisa was ready to call in the calvary on base to come get their boy if Trent decided it was necessary. Another niggling thought was coming to the surface, but she ignored it for the moment, sure that Trent would have a plan in place. She should call Emma if he was going to the infirmary on base, the girl would have a litter of kittens if she found out after the fact.

"Well, he's not going on the OP. Can't have him vomiting every other minute" Jason stated matter of factly, even though he didn't really want the kid out of his sight for longer than was absolutely necessary, the kid liked to wander.

"So we gonna leave him in the infirmary?" Trent exclaimed, incredulously. "I'd rather stay back myself and deal with his sick ass than leave him with people that don't know what they're giving him."

"We can't run a team of four, that's not happening" Blackburn interjected from the other side of the cargo bay.

"I'm fine guys, just give me an IV bag and I'll get over it" Clay mumbled after being crouched down on the ground near Cerberus.

"Boy be quiet, no one believes that horse crap," Sonny exclaimed, trying to pull him up once again, but dropped him once again as he couldn't get a good grip on his sweat soaked skin. Clay hit the deck and groaned, grabbing his head, feeling decidedly worse than before.

Jason looked down at the watch on his wrist, calculated the amount of time it would take for the plane to reach the tarmac. Looked at Clay again. Looked back down at his watch. Turned to Davis and sighed. "Call Emma, have her come and pick 'em up. She'll know what to do with him."

"Brother, you want Emma to come get him?" Ray questioned quietly, not wanting to do so publicly. Yes it was his job to question Bravo One, but that didn't mean he had to do it in front of everyone else.

"Yeah," Jason said turning to face Ray, away from the rest of his brothers who were trying to get Clay back into a hammock without causing him to feel nauseous again. "She'll take care of him better than if we sent him to the base infirmary and I know that if I don't tell her that he's sick, she'll be upset. Two birds, one stone. Besides Ray, what trouble could they possibly get up to with him looking like that?"

Both men looked at Clay, sweating and pale, hardly able to keep his head upright, and they chuckled. This was possibly the best time for them to be alone together with no supervision.

"Boss? Emmie's picking me up?" Clay mumbled from his hammock, unsure that he had heard right. It was one thing for him to be ok with being 'close' to his daughter but another for him to sanction time alone together, for an undisclosed amount of time.

"Yeah kid, she's gonna come get your ass, I just gotta have someone call her in."

"If you don't call her, she's gonna freak out," But Clay was quickly ignored as Jason walked towards Lisa, the only one who had a phone that could call to Emma's cell from the plane.

"Davis, you mind calling Emma?" Jason asked, scratching his hand down his beard, feeling a bone weariness approaching.

"Sure thing Jay, give me two seconds." Lisa tried to give herself as much privacy as she could, knowing that Emma would have more questions for her than she wanted to answer in front of the team. The girl's whole family was on the plane, and if she was calling from the sky, something was wrong. Lisa dialed the number, waited as it rang, and rang, and rang before clicking to voicemail. Huh. The was weird, Emma always answered the SAT phone's number. Giving her a minute, Lisa dialed the phone again, this time it picked up the second ring.

"Emma?" Lisa said gently, not wanting to startle the girl with a harsh tone. But at hearing sniffles on the other line, she said it a little more urgently, this time getting the attention of the men. "Emma!"

"Yeah Aunt Lisa," she said sniffling, not wanting to admit that she was crying over something stupid, like a kid teasing her about not having someone at her recital.

"You ok kid?" Lisa asked gently, unsure if she should even be asking Emma to come get Clay if she was upset. "How'd it go?"

"It went fine, I did well," Emma smiled, still slightly watery and sniffing slightly.

"Then why are you crying," At that every man started to edge closer. Jason made grabbing motions with his hand for the phone and Clay staggered to the front of the line, holding onto Sonny, who was clenching and unclenching his fist, ready to deliver a smack down to whoever had brought rain clouds over his sunshine.

"It's nothing, I'm PMSing and upset, tell the boys to settle." Emma could picture the scene in front of her, sure that Clay was hounding Davis for the phone. "Tell Clay that it went well and his trick worked, he'll know what I mean." Emma smiled at the memory through teary eyes. She had been more nervous than usual for this particular recital, the first one since her mom passed and not having anyone in the audience really shook her up. Clay told her to picture himself standing next to her, holding her hand, and that they were the only ones in the room. It worked, she had gotten the best marks on this assignment than any other.

Covering the receiver of the phone, Davis looked at boys' stricken faces. "It's fine boys, lady problems." Sonny put his hands over his ears, not wanting to hear more than that, but doing so disrupted Clay and brought everyone's attention to the real reason that Lisa was calling Emma. Softening her gaze, she looked at Clay who was now being supported by Ray. "Clay whatever you told her before the recital, she wanted me to tell you that it worked." Clay once again got a dopey grin on his face and Lisa turned back to the phone.

"Alright Aunt Lisa, what's going on? I know you didn't call me just to get an update. Clay told me that you were all on your way home." Emma took a deep breath, and cleared the tears out of her eyes.

"Mention anything else?" Davis wondered if Clay had been more honest with Emma that with the rest of the team. Something that she had noticed on Clay's early days on Bravo. He would go up high somewhere with his phone and come back calmer, more alert. It was later on that she realized that he was talking to Emma, but that wasn't her piece of information to share with the class.

"No, he said that he was tired, but that's normal for him after so many missions" Emma was certain that she would have remembered if he had said anything different.

"Trent thinks -" Lisa started, ready to regale the whole story to Emma.

"Trent? Why did he need Trent?" Emma cut her off, rapidly getting her things together from the classroom where she was attempting to do school work.

"He's fine Emma, sick with the same thing you had last week." Lisa soothed, looking back at the boys. Turns out that Clay was right, as soon as someone mentioned that Clay was unwell, she went into panic mode

"Oh," Emma hissed, remembering the miserable feeling that came with being sick and puking her guts out. Over. And over. And over. "You calling because he wants to talk to me or…?" Emma trailed off, still unsure of why she was being called. She was appreciative that she was being called, seeing as Emma was Clay's proxy, but there had to be something that she was missing here.

"The boys are getting spun up again as soon as they touch down, need you to come and pick Clay up, no way he's mission ready right now."

"Oh," Emma said softly.

"Is that alright? Something's up Em, what's going on?" And once again, the boys ears perked up and they all listened intently to the one sided conversation, trying to glean any information from Davis' facial expressions.

"Yeah no it's fine Aunt Lisa, I just wasn't expecting that. Are you sure that he shouldn't go to a hospital? I doubt I'm picking him and Uncle Trent up to come back to my place."

"Trent said that it was fine for him to come stay with you for a few days, doesn't think that it's anything more serious than you had. Naima is home so if he manages to surprise ya, she can come over" The boys all glanced over at Clay, wondering if it was a good idea after all for him to be going over to Emma's without one of them nearby.

"Ok Aunt Lisa, I'll be ready, am I'm coming to pick him up on the tarmac or are you all coming back onto the base?"

"We're coming to the base, gotta grab some different equipment for the next one, should be touching down in a half hour, that gonna be enough time for you to get to the base from school?"

"Yeah, I'll be there by then. I need clearance though, they're not just going to let onto the base." Emma worried her bottom lip with her top teeth. Now that she knew that she was going to be able to see Clay, she wanted to have the fastest travel time to get to him as possible.

"Don't worry about that, I'll make sure that you can get on base."

"Alright Aunt Lisa, I'll see you all soon. Make sure my dad isn't too grumpy when he de-planes, and tell Sonny that he had better leave Clay alone when he's not feeling well"

"I will Em, we'll see you in twenty minutes." With that she chuckled and looked over at Jason, shaking her head.

"What?" Jason wondered what Davis could find so funny after getting off the phone with his eldest child.

"Nothing, she just reminded me of Alana the first time I had to call her mid-flight, giving orders before we even got stateside." Chuckling as she made her way past Jason and towards Clay, who was sitting up leaning against Sonny.

"Hey there, we gotta get you ready to walk down the tarmac. Emma will not take it well if I have to drag you back to your cage."

"I'm good Davis, I can pull it together long enough to walk towards Emma and get in her car. She's gonna know that I feel like crap, she always does." Clay moved to pack his book back into his pack and drained the rest of the gatorade that had seemingly materialized itself in Trent's hands for him, the blue kind that he liked more than the orange one that Emma favored.

"Yeah Davis, I'll deliver Romeo to Juliet safe and sound before going to my own personal version of hell. Any chance I get to stay behind instead?" Sonny joked, trying to get a rise out of Clay and Davis.

"Not a chance in hell, Sonny, you're stuck with me for a while longer." With that she clapped Clay on the shoulder and went to go sit next to Blackburn, who was holding his head in his hands, and attempt to close her eyes for the next twenty minutes before they had to be mission ready again.

Emma was anxious. Logically, she knew that everything was going to be fine. Clay was sick, but not dying. The rest of her family was fine, all coming home in one piece. She just needed to see them with her own eyes, then she would be fine. Turns out she didn't have to wait for very much longer, as she heard the tell-tale snicker and joking as the men came into the room, sweaty, dirty, but very much alive. Rising from her seat, Emma walked over to her father, happy that he came back home to her again.

"Hi daddy," Emma sighed as she hugged him tightly

"Hey Em," He pulled away from their hug and looked at her face, unhappy with the bags that were present underneath them and the slight redness that betrayed the fact that she had recently been crying. As Emma went to hug her other uncles, Jason looked over at Clay to try and see if he was worried. The kid usually had a better radar for worrying about his daughter than he did, if he wasn't worried, then Jason wasn't going to push.

Clay looked peaceful and gently smiled when Emma placed a small kiss on his cheek. Watching as the boys went into their cages to get their jungle equipment, Jason watched as Emma started to fuss over Clay, smoothing his hair back off of his forehead and frowning slightly at the warmth of his skin. When Clay looked down at Emma, Jason was struck by the tenderness on his face, and then, once he got a good look, the concern started to creep in, but only if you were looking closely. His eyes tightened ever so slightly and some of the tension that was previously erased had come back into his shoulders. Maybe there was something that Jason should be concerned about after all.

"Kid, would you sit down before you fall down? I don't want to have to carry you out to Em's car." Jason ordered, turning around to give them some privacy. He had intruded enough already. Seeing Clay's relief at being seated, Jason chuckled to himself. If he was in Clay's shoes, he wouldn't want to look weak in front of Alana when they were first dating. It seemed like Clay was very much the same way.

"I'm good boss," Clay protested. Emma snorted and everyone looked at her face in disbelief, not quite sure that they had heard her correctly.

"You are not good here C, definitely sick." Emma protested, slightly worried at the glazed look in his eyes and the sweat beading on his forehead.

"I'm sick Em, not dying," Clay whispered gently, catching her hand and holding it. The tenderness of his voice made of the boys in the room turn away, still feeling like they were intruding on something that they weren't supposed to see.

"I know," Emma felt the tears pricking up at her eyes again and looking into Clay's eyes, he saw them too. With a shake of her head, she cleared her throat again and watched as the boys walked out of their cages, resuited up for their next mission. Jason stopped by them once more and gave Emma a kiss on her head.

"Take care of each other, call Davis or Naima if you need them," He glared at Emma, still slightly upset that she hadn't called someone when she was sick.

"I will," Emma swore, still looking worriedly at Clay. After a quick hug, Jason jogged to catch up with the rest of the team as they walked back off the base towards the tarmac, leaving Clay and Emma alone in cages.

Once they were finally alone in the cages and the plane had taken off, carrying the remaining members of Bravo off to some foreign jungle, Emma and Clay were left alone, at last. Emma began to go through Clay's cage while he dozed in his seat, getting things that she thought he would need for a few days in a bag so that they could go right home and rest. Glancing at his face, Emma was struck by how young he looked when he was asleep.

"Clay," Emma shook his shoulder gently, trying to stay out of the line of fire while waking him. She had had too many experiences when she was waking either her father or one of her uncles from a night terror and they reacted violently.

"I'm up Emmie, we ready to go?" Clay got himself to his feet, swaying slightly. Taking his bag from her shoulder, wrapped his arm around her shoulder and took the keys from her fingers.

"No way, I'm driving if you're sick Clay." Emma stopped firmly before the car, holding her hand out expectantly.

"Emmie K, I'm good!"

"Clay, you are not good if they grounded you from the OP, you're sick." Clay had dropped his bag into the bed of the truck and turned to face the girl. Seeing the worry on her face, Clay sighed and bent down to place a kiss on her forehead before relinquishing the keys "Thank you C," Emma swung herself into the front seat of the truck and began the short drive home. Glancing over every so often at Clay, Emma smiled as he fell into a light doze once more. Parking the car, Emma got the bag out of the bed of the truck before going into the house and putting it upstairs in her room before going out to get Clay. Walking slowly, Emma led Clay up to her bed and got him settled in the bed, similar to the set up that they had had a week ago, except Clay was the one with the trash can next to his head. Sitting down at her desk, Emma pulled out her homework and got to work while Clay napped.

The next time that Clay woke up, Emma was lying down next to him curled in between a pillow and a spare blanket that she had pulled from the closet. Reaching over to put a piece of hair behind her ear from in front of her face, Clay was struck by how much he cared for this girl, how much he was growing to love her. He needed to talk to Jason about this, Clay thought ruefully. If he was thinking about a future with his Master Chief's daughter, it might be a good idea to keep him on the same page, no matter how uncomfortable that conversation might be. Clay felt worlds better than he did on the plane, grateful that whatever Trent had injected had made him stop vomiting, even if he still felt a little weak. Unable to resist, Clay shifted closer towards and kissed her lips softly, waking the girl gently.

"What a way to wake up," Emma whispered, looking into Clay's eyes, pupils blown wide, making the green of her eyes darken.

"Hey Emmie K," Clay whispered, equally soft, not wanting to shatter the moment between them. Clay took in the sight of her sleep tousled hair and pink lips, before flicking his eyes back up to Emma's before he leaned in gently again.

Emma felt a gentle pressure on her lips and thought that she was dreaming for a moment, sure that Clay couldn't actually be in her room, on her bed, kissing her, alone. But as Emma became more aware, she realized that Clay was indeed in her bed and, well, if a girl wanted to take advantage of some alone time, that was her prerogative. Blinking coyly at Clay, Emma could see that Clay was contemplating what to do, unsure of what his next move should be. When Clay began to lean in once more, Emma took a deep breath and slotted her lips on his, more firmly than she had ever before, and a spark shot through her. Bring her hands to rest on Clay's face, she let the dizzying effect of Clay's kisses take her to a different place where only her and Clay existed. Dragging her mouth back to breathe deeply, Emma rested her forehead against Clay's as he dragged his mouth down her jaw and over her neck, shoving the pillow that rested between them to the bottom of the bed and pulling her closer so that her chest was pressed firmly against his.

"Clay," Emma panted out, unsure of the feelings that were coursing through her. She felt hot and dizzy, but didn't want him to stop.

"Yeah Em," pressing a lingering kiss to the hollow of her throat next to the necklace that Jason had gotten her for her eighteenth birthday, Clay glanced up, ready for Emma to tell him to cool it off. "You wanna stop?" No matter how much Clay loved kissing this girl, if the word stop came out of her mouth, he was done, no questions asked.

"No, no we're good, I just… I don't know how to… I'm not..." At Emma's stuttering words, Clay softened and placed another soft kiss on her lips.

"You don't have to know how to do anything Em, all you have to do is tell me where the line is, and what feels good. Can you do that?" Emma's arms came back to snake around his neck and she tucked her head back into the crook of his neck, and nodded her head. Sneaking a quick peek at Clay, she took another steadying breath, and tentatively started kissing the underside of his jaw, right where the ear meets the neck

Clay let out a quick gasp in surprise and pulled her closer to him, letting Emma do her thing and explore, not wanting to move too fast or startle the girl. As Emma got bolder and sucked harder on his neck, Clay pulled her back before she could give him a bruise that he wouldn't be able to explain away when the boys got back. He sat up quickly and pulled Emma with him so that she was sitting on his lap, facing him. With their breaths mingling together, Clay asked, "We still good Emmie?"

Instead of answering Clay, she grabbed his hands which were lying next to her knees on the bed, and wrapped them around her waist before leaning in for another kiss. Taking the hint, Clay began to move his hands up and down her back while kissing her, daring himself to kiss harder. Clay nipped on her bottom lip and pulled back gently before swooping back in and placing another bruising kiss and felt Emma's body react faster than her brain. Her back arched and her hips swiveled on top on his, pressing her body onto the hardness that was growing in his pants.

Emma's responding moan broke their kiss once more and Clay couldn't help himself, dropping his lips down to her neck once more, this time daring to kiss where the strap of her camisole had started to fall, up and down her chest. Never moving the shirt that stayed firmly in place, Clay shifted his hands from their position on her back to rest gently on her stomach. Dragging his lips away from her chest, Clay looked at Emma's blissed out expression and waited for her to focus in on him again. When their eyes met, Emma bit her lip gently, and nodded, not quite wanting to stop just yet. She placed her hand on top of Clay's and helped him move it until he was cupping her breast. The warmth and strength she felt from Clay's hand pitched her forward until her head rested against his shoulder as she attempted to keep herself from crying out.

Watching Emma bite her lip was one of the sexiest things that Clay had seen in a very long time, but having her trust him enough to touch her intimately, was by far sexier than any other encounter Clay had ever had. Moving his hand gently, Clay watched Emma's face as she tried to muffle her moans. That wasn't going to do, they were alone, with no one even being close to listening in. Squeezing a little more firmly, Clay sucked Emma's earlobe into his pulling down gently with his teeth. The combine sensation of his hand on her breast and lips around her ear had Emma cry out, unprepared for the assault of sensation flooding through her body. Grinning to himself at the sound of her pleasure filled cry, Clay willed himself to stay calm and not mindlessly attack the girl sitting in his lap. After a few more kisses, each one lasting longer than the one before it, Clay shifted his hands away from her chest and moved them back down to her hips.

"Clay," Emma whined, upset that he was no longer touching her.

"Yeah love?"

Frustrated by his lack of touch and seemingly unflustered appearance, Emma dragged her hips down on his once more and was pleased by the groan that came out, deep in his throat and the hard sensation underneath her hips that set her body on fire.

"Em, we're playing with fire here," Clay warned her gently, still not wanting to relinquish his hold on her hips.

"I know, I know," Looking at Clay closely, she could see the strain of taking things slowly on his face and in the way that he gripped her hips, preventing her from moving on his lap. They were either going to stop here, or there were going further. The air around them was electrified with tension, but before either of them could lean in again, Emma's phone rang and shattered the moment.

The mission was finally finished and all of the men on Bravo were chomping at the bit to get home to their rookie, wondering what kind of trouble he got himself into with Emma. Just as the plane was approaching US soil, Jason looked over at Davis pleadingly.

"You want to call in?" Davis asked, already getting the phone out of her case. At his nod, Davis dialed the number and was pleased when it was picked up on the second ring, but it wasn't the person who she was expecting to hear on the other side of the line.

"Hey Davis," Clay said softly. Emma's eyes got wide more and she started breathing faster, afraid of what was happening on the other end of the line.

"Clay?" Lisa questioned, wondering why he was answering Emma's phone. "Is Emma ok? What happened?" The boys once again crowded near Davis as she talked to Clay

"Nah, she's fine. She's just asleep next to me, want me to wake her?"

"No, no, don't wake her, she needs to get some sleep." At her words the boys all relaxed again and settled back into their seats. Emma sleeping was a valid enough reason for her not to answer the phone, especially lately as she wasn't getting nearly enough sleep. "Just wanted to let you know that we finished the OP, coming home in two, maybe three hours. How are you feeling?"

At this Clay felt a little guilty, as he didn't feel sick to his stomach anymore, but didn't feel good either. He probably should have gone on the OP with the boys, but was also grateful for the alone time that he got to spend with Emma. "I'm feeling better, haven't puked since the plane. Lots of sleep. Still feel like Sonny trampled me with his boot though."

"Alright Clay, you get some more rest. I'll try and corral the boys and keep them away." At her words the sounds of chuckles filled the aircraft and she knew that there was no way that they would pass up an opportunity to tease their youngest member, but she would try.

Hanging up the phone, Clay looked at Emma and knew that she was still wound up, her flushed skin, wide eyes, and heaving chest confirmed that.

"Clay, I, what did we just do? What does this mean?" Emma came back down to Earth and looked at Clay's face, his lips were swollen and he smiled gently at her.

"Emmie K, I think you know what we were doing," Clay grabbed her hand and held it. "As far as what this means? It means that we're exploring the parts of this relationship, whether you want to call it 'boyfriend and girlfriend' is up to you. We're on the same page here Em, I follow your lead."

"And if this is all I want for now?" Emma inquired hesitantly, unsure if she was supposed to be doing more than this.

"Then that's all we do for now, although I would like to do other things besides lying in a bed with you at some point." Clay chuckled. "No one's rushing into anything Em, promise."

"You're talking about going on dates?" Emma said slowly, unsure if Clay was really talking about having a relationship with her or if it was just going to be fooling around.

"Yeah Em, and seeing where this goes. You ok with that?"

"I am very much ok with that." With a smile, she yawned gently and snuggled back into Clay. "Let's go back to sleep C, I'm sure there's still time before the boys come back."

And that's exactly how the boys found them when they arrived home. Lying innocently side by side, still holding hands. With a trash can on one side and textbooks on the other. Jason shook his head at the pair, fairly sure that things weren't as innocent as they seemed based on the redness that surrounded Clay's neck, but was unwilling to think about it any further. Shutting the door he shooed his men out of his house, and went down to grab a beer. Surely there would need to be a conversation about this, the only question was what he was going to say when Spenser told him that he wanted to date his little girl.


	2. Chapter 2

Jason sat down on the couch with his beer and flipped on the TV, hoping that there would be something playing that would distract him from his daughter and his rookie sleeping. Together. In the same bed. No matter how innocent it looked right now, Jason thought ruefully to himself. If he was in that bed with Alana at Clay's age… it wouldn't be innocent for long. It was times like this that Jason longed for his wife to calm him down with a well placed kiss and a beer, but that would have to wait a long time. His kids needed him first. Well at least Mikey needed him, Emma has someone else to help him take care of her now. Hearing heavy footsteps on the stairs, Jason knew it was Clay coming down, but was still unprepared for what he was going to say to him. On one hand, he wanted to forbid him from spending more time with his daughter, but the angel on his shoulder that sounded particularly Alana - like reminded him not to waste something good.

"Hey Jace," Clay said, walking up behind him and standing by kitchen island.

"Hey kid,"

Both men stood in silence for a moment, then Clay sat down on one of the stools surrounding the island and Jason remembered exactly why they were in this predicament to begin with, Clay tossing his cookies.

"You feeling any better?" Jason stood from the couch and walked over, intent on looking at his face for any signs of illness.

"Better boss, probably should have gone on the OP with you guys, would have been fine." Clay stated, still feeling guilty that he had skipped out on an OP with his brothers to hang out with Emma for an evening.

"Don't worry about it, it was open and shut. Besides, knowing your luck you would have caught some tropical virus and be worse off than before. And then Emma would really kill me"

At Emma's name, both men went silent again, each not sure how to bring up the conversation that they both needed to have. Jason went to go grab another beer and offered one to Clay, who shook his head. Shrugging, Jason handed him a bottle of water and stood across from him.

"Alright, we have to have this conversation sooner or later. I'd prefer to never be having this conversation with one of my men, but this is where we are."

Clay gulped, and then looked at Jason in the eyes. "What do you want to know?"

"I think we start with where you think is going to go?"

"Boss, we talked about this when the boys were here. I can't see my life without Emma in it, and I don't want to picture a life without her. Isn't that enough?"

Jason took a second to think about his answer before pacing back and forth between the couch and the kitchen. Running his hands through his hair, he looked at Clay. "I'm glad that you want to plan a life with her, but there has to be a way we can work through this and stay sane. Are you going to be dating my daughter Clay? Be straight with me, is that where this is going? Because it's one thing to want to have someone in their life, but another thing if it's going to be more than the friendship that you two share…"

Clay looked at his hands, then back up at Jason. "Jace, I want to be able to take Emma on dates, I want to be the one that she calls when she's in trouble, I want to be the one that she thinks about when she's planning her life. I want to be that person, and I know that it puts us in a weird spot with me being on your team, and with me being older. But I'm not going to stop caring for her, and until she says so, this is where I'm going to be."

"And if I make you choose? The team or her, which is it going to be?"

"Are you saying that you're going to make me choose Jason? Either I get to be with Emma or I get to operate?" Clay stated incredulously, standing up to look at Jason, who stood in the middle of the kitchen.

"Which one Clay," Jason looked at him with hard eyes, waiting to see what the man would choose and if it would be the same choice that he would have made if Swanny had given him this ultimatum when he was still in BUDS while dating Alana.

Not wanting to make the choice, Clay hesitated slightly. Thinking about the things that he would miss if he were to stop operating, but then thought of Emma's smile, her kind eyes, the way her voice sounded when she got fired up. The way it felt to kiss her and knowing that she loved him too; he had his answer. "Her, any day of the week, any time, over and over again. If it means that I'd have to stop operating or switch to a different team Jace, I would do it. Say the word."

His words rang out, the silence following them was deafening. Neither of the men moved, staring at the other and waiting for someone to break the stare. Jason broke first, tearing his eyes away from Clay and running his hands through his hair before turning away from Clay to pace again.

"Sit down kid, you're not transferring. Emma would kick my ass from here all the way back to Jbad if I kicked you off the team for dating her."

Clay deflated slightly, relieved that he wouldn't have to leave his brothers to date the woman he wanted to spend his life with. "Then why'd you make me answer that Jason, you already knew what my answer was going to be."

Shaking his head, Jason looked at Clay. "It's one thing to know what the answer should be, especially when it's your kid, but another to hear it from your lips. Dads want to know that their children are going to be taken care of when they're not there."

"Nice to know," Clay muttered, yet again at a disadvantage from having Ash as his father, instead of someone like Jason who would care for him enough to ensure his safety.

"His loss kid, you got brothers now." Jason came back to sit down across from Clay, feeling calmer now that he had some sort of answer for the relationship that was developing between his kids. "We still have to figure out how this is going to work, I might be ok with this but that doesn't mean that I want to hear about it, she's still my daughter."

"I don't think the boys would really take any joking that far boss, they know it's Emma and that neither of us is going to be ok with them talking smack about her. I won't put up with it." Clay thought about his brothers making crude jokes about Emma and his fist tightened around the water bottle, making the plastic crumple under his hand.

"The minute that happens, you're shutting them down Clay. I won't stand for it."

"We're on the same page here Jason, besides I don't think they want to think about that one either, they've known Emma since she was born."

"That's the other thing, these boys are going to be incredibly protective of her. More so than me because I had the chance to see this coming, this is new for them."

"So, what, they're going to show up to each date that we go on? Stand here in the house before her curfew waiting to see if we break it? This turning into a rom-com boss?"

"I don't really know, Sonny could come up with millions of ways for this to turn into a make fun of Clay event, but that might not be the best thing either." Jason sighed thinking of the look on Emma's face if she found out that they were teasing him for going on dates with her.

"Em would not take that well, she's already insecure about this whole thing." Clay took the words right out of Jason's head.

"Emma, insecure?" Jason snorted, thinking that Clay was pulling his leg.

"Yeah Jace, she is. You remember when you and Alana first started dating? You were older than her, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Wasn't she unsure of a lot of things in the beginning? Didn't know which way was up?"

"It was a little different, she was already pregnant with Emma, we didn't really have a choice but to try and figure it out together." A moment passed, then Jason's face got hard again. "You trying to tell me something there Clay?"

"What? No! Jesus Jason that's what you picked up from that? You really think that I'd be talking to you of all people about that?"

Jason's face relaxed, noting that the incredulity in Clay's voice told more than he had originally stated. "Yeah ok kid, I don't want to hear about it, not now, not ever. I'm only going to tell you this once, and then we're never going to speak about it again, you got me? Do not get my daughter pregnant."

Clay's face went red, and he put his head into his hands before turning to look at Jason. "And I'm going to say this once, and it applies to every aspect of our relationship Jason," waiting for Jason to look at him, Clay was confident that his answer was going to make things even more uncomfortable, but it needed to be said. "I follow her lead, what she wants. She's in charge here."

Jason nodded, swallowed heavily and drained the rest of his beer.

"But Jason, we both have to play this carefully, Emma is … afraid of what's to come. She won't say it out loud, but I know her." Clay looked earnestly at his boss, trying to get across that Emma needed to be protected from any judgement about this relationship.

"I didn't want to say anything before, when we were getting ready to go on the next OP because the boys would have made a big deal about it, but she's not doing well is she Clay? She's not sleeping."

"No, and I'm worried. She's not sleeping, but she won't talk to me about it, she just says that it's for her to worry about-"

"... and that you should worry about coming home? Alana used to say that shit to me all the time, always made me worry more than if she just told me what was bothering her."

The men yet again fell into silence, although this was one that felt decidedly more comfortable as they were on the same page. Lost in their thoughts, neither man noticed when Emma walked into the kitchen, startling when she wrapped her arms around Clay from behind and resting her face on his shoulder.

Once again Emma woke up alone in her bed. Feeling the space that Clay had occupied, it was now cold but there was still the lingering scent of his cologne on the sheets. The memory of the scent surrounding her and she kissed Clay's neck made her tingle all over and a grin threatened to take over her entire face. Getting up she, walked over to the shower before pulling out some pajamas. It wasn't really that late, but Emma didn't foresee going out any time soon. It was almost time to make dinner, but some spaghetti wasn't really that hard to whip up for Mikey and herself, Clay was probably gone by now.

After her shower, Emma pulled her wet hair up into a messy bun before sliding on the shirt that Clay had left the other day that she had secretly kept. Tying the long shirt tails in a knot by her hip, she put on her favorite pair of shorts on, the ones with the ruffled hem that made her legs look really nice. Walking down the steps, all of the lights were on and she could hear voices in the kitchen, so someone aside from her dad was home. Peering around the door frame, she saw Clay and her dad sitting at the kitchen island, looking lost in thought. Hesitating, Emma didn't know where the line was. Clay and her had talked about where they stood, and she felt comfortable knowing that they were dating. But that didn't mean that anyone had talked to her dad about it, she sure as hell wasn't going to until he brought it up for himself. Throwing her shoulders back, Emma went and wrapped her arms around Clay's broad shoulders and rested her face against his back, content that he had stayed and even more content to be near him.

"Hey Emmie K, have a good nap?" Clay turned in his seat to give Emma a proper hug.

"It was alright," Emma sighed and walked over to her father before giving him a hug. Relaxing into his comforting strength, Emma let herself go limp in his arms.

"Hey Em, how are you?"

"I'm good Dad, just tired."

"You sleeping alright?" Jason looked into his daughter's eyes, not entirely sure that she was going to be honest with him about what was bothering her.

"I'm fine," Emma tried to insist, the bags under her eyes making her look like she'd been up for days instead of just waking up from a nap.

Seeing the staring match between Jason and Emma, Clay carefully took himself out of the conversation and sat himself down on the couch where Jason just was. Pulling the quilt off the back of the couch, he settled down into the cushion, feeling the effects of the long day and night. Besides, Jason and Emma needed to hash this out.

"Emma, I don't think that you're telling me the truth here, you're not ok." Jason pulled Emma off of his chest and took one good look at her before tears started to fall down her cheeks. "Oh Em," Jason sighed and pulled her under his chin.

"Daddy, I don't even know why I'm crying. Nothing's wrong, you're both home and safe and here with me. But I'm just so tired." Emma wiped at her eyes, and looked at her father, half expecting him to tell her that she was being ridiculous.

"You're under a lot of stress here Em, it's not easy. Your mom struggled with it too, and she had people all around her to help. You do too, but it's not the same."  
"I can handle it dad, it just gets to be a lot sometimes. Taking care of Mikey, making sure that he gets to school on time and that I can do all of the work that I have to get done and apply to schools, and find time to hang out with my friends. And I know that there are people around me to help, but there's not really anyone to help when it gets overwhelming and there's nothing anyone can do about it."

"What about Clay, Emma? You know he'd help out in a heartbeat if he could."

"That's just it Dad, sometimes there's nothing that can be done and I don't want to stress him out even further. It's not fair to him that he has to deal with his problems and mine as well."

"Em, relationships like yours and Clay, are meant to be able to share burdens. He wants to know all of the stuff, not just the happy stuff. Your mom and I did that once upon a time and it was nice to have someone that would listen, even if they couldn't fix the problem. It's a little more difficult here because Clay and I get spun up, but if you really want to make it work with him baby, it's going to take some time to adjust."

"I'm guessing you both talked about it?" Emma said stiffly, not liking the way that Jason implied that there was a relationship without talking to her.

"Yeah Em, as your father I talked to him, as his team leader I talked to him, as his friend I talked to him. We all have to be on the same page with this stuff, I'm sorry if that makes you uncomfortable but it needed to be done."

"So what was the conclusion? I'm assuming it worked out well or Clay wouldn't be knocked out on our couch." Emma raised an eyebrow at her father, looking eerily similar to Alana.

"He's got permission, so do you. Don't make me lose my rookie Em," Jason smiled softly when Emma's face softened and she threw her arms around him in a gentle hug. "That doesn't mean that I want to see it Em, not in the house and not in front of me. You're still my daughter, no father wants to see their child… canoodling"

"Really dad? Canoodling?" Emma scoffed.

"Yes, really. Your choices are your own here, you're grown enough to be able to do that. It doesn't mean that I want to see those choices in my living room."

"Ok, you won't see any of it, I can promise you that."

"But not that it won't happen huh?"

Laughing, Emma looked back up at her father. "No, I won't promise that one. And that's as far are we're going to take it, Mom covered this a long time ago."

Raising his hands in defeat, Jason laughed and kissed his daughter's head. "I'm going to the garage Em, make sure he either goes home or sleeps in a bed. And order something for dinner, take a night off of cooking."

"If you say so Dad, that means it's Chinese food tonight," Emma giggled, knowing that her father tolerated Chinese food when he had to.

"Whatever you want Em," Jason replied shaking his head as he opened the garage door. Content that whatever was going to happen on the other side of the door was what was right for his daughter who wasn't quite so little anymore.

Alone in the kitchen once more, Emma felt a sense of deja vu. The last time Clay and her were alone together in this place, it ended with Emma on his lap and kissing his neck, a position they often found themselves in lately. Emma giggled at the thought of the positions being reversed and Clay sitting on her lap. They were well matched for size, but Clay still towered over her by a good six inches. Walking over to the couch, Emma heard Clay's soft snores as he dozed, probably still feeling a little under the weather from his bout of the flu, even if it wasn't nearly as bad as her run with it. With his face relaxed in sleep, Clay looked more like the boys her age than the competent and deadly soldier that she knew he was.

"I can feel you staring at me Emmie," Clay soft voice broke the silence.

"Yeah, you're just so nice to look at," Emma joked back, happy just to be near him.

"I bet that's why you keep me around, because of my handsome good looks huh"

"Definitely, that and other reasons." Clay cracked his eyes open at Emma and got a good look at her half sitting on the arm of the couch. The first thing he saw was an eyeful of long legs covered in entirely too tiny shorts. Glancing up, he caught a glimpse of the shirt that Emma was wearing, his Bravo Six shirt with his name printed on the back. Taking a deep breath in, he attempted to control himself, still slightly unsure of where they stood from their time in her bed. Clenching his fists, Clay took a deep breath in and out and tried to center himself.

"So you talked to Dad?" Emma broke through his thoughts of tackling his girl, the sudden topic change spun him for a loop.

"Yeah, we're all on the same page between me and you, me and your Dad, and you and your Dad. I feel like we're even on the same paragraph."

"How much did you hear from me and Dad talking?" Emma was quiet, happy that her boyfriend, if that's what she was going to call it, was on good terms with her father. But the real question was if Clay had heard all their talk about canoodling.

"I tried not to listen to much Em, but I did hear some of it. I'm sorry." Clay grabbed her hand, unsure if she would be mad that he had listened into something that was clearly private. "But Em, I want you to be able to share your burdens with me. I get why you don't always share them with your Dad, but with me? I should be the one you trust the most."

"I don't want to worry you C," Emma whispered, stroking along the side of his face with her other hand.

"Emma, I'm going to worry no matter what. You could tell me that you were going to lounge in bed all day long and I would worry if something was going to happen. It's part of being in a relationship."

"I don't exactly have a lot of experience in that department Clay," Emma muttered, face going red at the other implication of that statement.

"I know Em, that's why we talk about things before we get into situations that we both can't handle. Communication is the only way that this is going to work. Promise me that you'll always talk to me, even if it's difficult or uncomfortable. I'll never judge."

"I can do that Clay, but that also means we should talk about some other things too,"

"I meant what I said before Em, I'm following your lead. If you want to talk about sex more we can, but I feel like we're on the same page with that one."

Emma's face went red at the word, and she stammered out, "We are! And I'm glad that we're not rushing into anything and I don't feel like you're going to rush me into anything -"

"That's definitely not going to happen" Clay interrupted firmly, glad to know that Emma at least knew what their pace was going to be, glacially slow. The last thing that Clay wanted to do was make Emma uncomfortable, and going from point A to point Z was a sure fire way to make someone feel like they were out of control. "Em, if we're going to talk about this, lets not do it in your living room where your Dad can walk in. I know that he has an idea of what's going on here, but let's not confirm it for the man."

"If we go back up to my room, are we going to be able to talk about this?" Emma question, wondering if that was such a good idea seeing as how the last time they were alone in her bedroom, things maybe got a little steamy.

"Of course Em," Clay grabbed her hand again, but before they could go upstairs, Jason came out of the garage and back into the house. Glancing at them, Jason grabbed his keys and threw over his shoulder, "Ray asked for me to come over, I'll pick up dinner while I'm out."

"Make sure you get me an egg roll Dad!" Emma called out, relieved that Clay and her could have this conversation, alone.

Hand in hand, the pair walked up the stairs together, each slightly nervous and uncomfortable with the topic that they were about to discuss. But Emma ploughed forward, not content with 'I'll follow your lead'. What does that even mean? Was he going to not go further than she wanted him to go ever? Did that mean she had to initiate every time they were going to kiss? Was he ever going to want something besides what they had previously done?

Sitting across from each other on the bed with crossed legs, Clay took Emma's hand in his. "I'm just going to come out and say it, this conversation is going to be uncomfortable. We can't even talk about the word without blushing, so it's safe to say that we aren't ready for the act."

"Definitely not," Emma agreed her cheeks flushed. They sat in silence for a moment, before Clay realized that he was going to have to push her to talk if they wanted to come to a conclusion.

"Do you want to ask questions about things that you want to talk about? Maybe that will be easier than trying to go into this full stop?" Clay watched the indecision play out on her face as Emma bit her lip again. Internally Clay groaned, thinking of another moment where she had bitten her lip, but maybe that was the reason they were having this conversation in the first place.

"I'm assuming here, but you've had other relationships before this?"

Clay nodded, waiting to see where she was going to go with her current line of questioning. "And in those relationships, I doubt that you were…"

"I've had sex before Em, if that's what you're getting at. I've had one other serious relationship before this one, and it was … a while ago. In between, there have been other girls, but only for the night, but the last one was well before I joined Bravo." Clay laid all of the facts on the table, wanting to be transparent about his dating history with the girl.

"And with those girls, you brought them home because you wanted company?"

"Company is a good way to put it," Clay laughed at the analogy that Emma had created.

"That company, are you going to be looking for that while I can't give it to you?" Emma wondered softly.

And that there was the route of the problem, Clay thought to himself. Emma was still insecure about their relationship and the physical nature of his past relationships.

"Em, I'm not looking for anything besides what you're giving me, and I don't really agree with the sentiment that you're 'giving' me anything. I'm not going to sit here and say that one day in the future, I won't want to make love to you or that I don't want to have that intimate connection with you, but it's at your pace. I want you as Emma, not what Emma's body can do." Clay looked into her eyes, scanning them to see if she understood what he was saying. "Can I ask you a question, Emmie K?"

Emma nodded, slightly afraid of what he was going to ask. Not because she thought that he was going to make her do something, but if she was going to die of embarrassment.

"All of this is new to you isn't it? You've never…"

"No, this is, um, new so to speak." Emma looked up at Clay. "I had only ever kissed someone before this afternoon, and that was a stage kiss, so this afternoon was…"

"A lot?" Clay responded. Clay's face grew red at the thought of his hands roaming over her as they kissed, chests heaving and hips grinding.

"I think, going forward, we need to have some direction. I know you said that whatever I want goes here, but at this point I don't even know what else there is to even do aside from sex, which we both agreed we're not ready for here"

"I know it's not the answer that you're looking for, but I meant when I said we would follow your lead. There's a lot of things that we can do in between sex and where we are now. But I need to know where the line is so that we don't go running past it."

"Clay, I don't know where my line is yet because we haven't done anything that's made me uncomfortable" Emma looked earnestly at Clay, trying to get across that she wasn't uncomfortable in the slightest, she wanted more. "I didn't want to stop this afternoon Clay, and that scared me. It scared me because I had never felt like that before."

"So if I hadn't stopped us, would you have wanted to go further than that Em?" Clay looked at her face carefully, trying to figure out what thinking.

"I'm saying that I don't know if we would have gone further because I never thought about it before. I didn't really think that I would be in this situation, Clay"

"Ok, let's think about this logically. Do you like kissing me?"

"Yes," Emma said exasperatedly. "I like kissing you Clay."

"Go with me here Em, we're going to figure this out. So you like me kissing you, how did you feel about me kissing your neck?"

Emma thought about it for a moment, before responding shyly, "I liked it." Touching her neck gently, Emma remembered how it felt when Clay scrapped his teeth gently underneath her jaw.

"And did you like when I started moving my hands when you were on my lap?" Clay racked his brain to try and think about anything else that they had done that afternoon, but that was all he could remember.

Not looking at Clay, Emma whispered "Yes."

"There's nothing to be ashamed of here love, you can want that, and knowing what you like is half the battle here. So for right now, is that where our line is?"

"Maybe next time, if you want there to be a next time, we could go a little further? Just baby steps Clay. I think if I don't like something you'll either know or I'll tell you. Is that ok?" Emma looked up at Clay, running her fingers through her hair, she combed out the messy bun that it was fixed into and shook out her hair. Seeing Clay staring at her with wide eyes, Emma questioned "What?"

Shaking his head to clear the cobwebs that came from seeing Emma, in her bed, messy hair, tiny shorts, and a shirt that bore _his _name was too much. "Nothing, you just look, I'm just, I don't know how to say," stumbling over his words, Clay blushed.

"Clay what? Is it something I said? Do you not want to go further?" Emma was genuinely concerned that Clay was uncomfortable, and leaned over to put her hand on his knee, shifting slightly so that she was resting on her knees.

"No Emmie K, it's nothing you said, you're just, I'm attracted to you honey."

"Oh," Emma sat back on her heels, unsure of where that came from in his brain. "Even looking like this Clay? I'm not doing anything special."

"You're wearing my shirt, Em, in tiny shorts, you're hair is done, and we're talking about things that would make any man blush, even just thinking about it."

"And that's a good thing?" Emma said, slightly confused over the way that Clay was talking about being attracted to her.

"Yes honey, it's a good thing, but I'm definitely taking that shirt back from you after tonight. I'll give you any other shirt but that one"

Seeing the flustered look on his face, Emma teasingly grabbed the end of her shirt and started to raise the hem. "Well if you really insist,"

Clay lunged across the bed and grabbed Emma across the waist and pulled her into his lap. "Emmie K, if you pull that shirt up, the line goes all the way to that point" Her teasing grin stayed on her face, and her eyes were twinkling with mischief. "We also do not have that kind of time for the things that'll happen if that shirt comes off Em."

Seeing the lust in Clay's eyes, Emma accepted defeat and kissed Clay softly. Just as Emma was going to deepen the kiss, the door slammed and Jason called up the stairs. "Emma? Clay? Chinese food is on the table!"

"Go out with me tomorrow, I know a place that you would like that has live music during dinner. That is if you think that you can take a night off from school work, the boys and I won't get spun up so soon after two back to back."

"I'd love to Clay," With another gentle kiss, Emma stood up and offered her hand to Clay. Hand in hand they walked downstairs to get some dinner before Jason sent out a search party for them.


	3. Chapter 3

Emma was nervous, more nervous than she really should be. Hanging out with Clay wasn't anything different than before, this was just the first time that they were calling it a date. Emma wasn't even sure that she knew what to wear at this point, the only thing that she had been told was to wear something nice, and to not stress about it, which of course made her more stressed. Thinking about Clay, Emma started to flush. After their conversation earlier that week, Emma started to think more and more about what she wanted with Clay, not just in the sense of her future, but what she _wanted_ from him. Brushing her hair out, Emma spotted Clay's truck coming down the street through her window. Bounding down the stairs, she passed Mikey and her Dad playing video games.

"You leaving Em?" Jason called over his shoulder, still focused on the television set where Mikey was kicking his ass.

"Yes, I'll be back by nine. Clay and I are going out," Emma waited for Jason to say something about her going out with him, but to her surprise, Jason calmly said, "Ok, have fun and be safe. Tell Clay that nine o'clock means nine o'clock."

Emma practically ran out the door and walked to Clay's truck, her dress fluttering in the light breeze. Opening the car door, Emma was struck by how handsome Clay looked; dark jeans and a white polo shirt. Clean shaven and sparkling blue eyes, Clay was handsome. If she were with Hannah right now, she might even say that Clay looked hot.

"Hey Emmie, how's your day going?" Clay said with a soft smile, happy to just be in the presence of the girl he loved.

"Better now Clay, better now," Emma leaned over and placed a soft kiss on Clay's cheek and got herself settled in the car. Pulling out of the driveway, Clay reached over to hold Emma's hand as they drove through town.

"So where is this place that you're taking me to?" Emma said, looking at Clay's strong profile as he drove.

"It's a bar that I went to with a friend of mine a long time ago, before I joined Bravo. He brought me during their live music night and I think it'll be something that you'll like," Clay spared a glance at Emma's face while they waited at a red light. Startling as someone honked their horn, Clay jumped and started driving again as Emma giggled.

"Just you wait Emmie K, if we weren't driving right now…" Clay trailed off, giving her hand an extra squeeze.

"Sure," Emma drawled, teasing Clay.

Pulling up to the restaurant, Emma felt the butterflies swirl in her belly again and being alone with Clay, on their first date of many to come. Walking through the doors, hand in hand, Emma had never been happier. There were people dancing, someone on stage singing, and plenty of happy faces wherever she looked.

"You like it?" Clay teased, seeing the wide smile come across Emma's face.

"I love it!" Emma whispered, taking everything in before wandering further into the restaurant. Taking a seat at one of the tables, Clay and Emma both glanced away from each other before meeting each other's eyes, before laughing awkwardly.

"This is silly Emmie, it's just us," Clay took her hand.

"You're right we are being silly, I'm just glad we finally got to spend some time together. I feel like the last week has been crazy since you had your training OP."

The last week that they had been on base, Clay and the boys had gone through the mandatory training sessions that the big wigs had designed up for them, not leaving Clay and Emma much time to spend together, not that that was any different from how they had spent time together in the past.

"You're definitely right about that one, Em. This week kicked my ass." Clay took a sip of his water and smiled across the table at Emma, who was looking around at the other patrons in the bar. "Em, you ever think about singing on stage like that?"

"All the time Clay, it used to be one of my favorite things to do. Bbut I don't know if I can do it anymore, I didn't enjoy the recital a few weeks ago without mom" Emma said softly, not wanting to admit that she sang more for her own pleasure than for other people to enjoy after her mother had passed away.

"I think you'd be great at it if you wanted to sing for a living," Clay stated emphatically. "And your mom would want you to do the things that you love." The more that Clay got to know this charming girl, the more he realized that the strong persona that the girl put off wasn't as bulletproof as she would like others to believe.

"Thanks Clay," Emma blushed prettily, happy that he believed in her. The future was still very much up in the air as Emma wasn't quite sure where college was going to take her or even what she wanted to study. All she knew was that it would have to be local, no matter how much she loved NYU. She couldn't leave Mikey, or Clay for that matter.

"Let's dance Emmie K, it's the best part of this place." Clay took her hand and placed a few bills on the table to cover the drinks that they had had. Wrapping his arms around Emma, they swayed together gently to the soft love song that was being sung. Emma rested her head against his chest, listening to his heart beat pound underneath her ears. Clay kissed the top of her head gently and Emma smiled. This was the best possible way to spend her night, wrapped in her boyfriend's arms, dancing to some good music.

Sooner than either one wanted, the song ended and the singer took a break. Clay looked over at Emma and then back down to his watch, the night was going to have to come to an end sooner than he would want, and he still wanted to spend some time with his girl away from people. Grabbing her hand, Clay led her back out to his truck and opened the car door for her. Hearing her small giggles, Clay knew that he would do anything in the world to hear them one more time.

"Clay where are we going?" Emma trusted that Clay had a place in mind for them, but was still anxious to know exactly what those plans were going to be, especially since it was getting late.

"We're going to the beach love, there's a spot I want to show you." Clay continued driving the short distance from the bar to the beach. Parking the car, Clay got out and pulled a blanket from the bed of his truck and offered his hand to Emma before walking up the dunes. Setting the blanket down, Clay sat behind Emma and wrapped his arms around her waist, feeling at peace with the waves crashing on the shoreline and the blonde nestled underneath his chin. Clay felt Emma move and before he knew it, Emma was kissing him softly.

"Well that was unexpected love," Clay said, tracing the curve of her cheek with his thumb. "But definitely not unappreciated."

"I couldn't resist," Emma joked, before reaching up to ruffle his hair. Standing up, Emma kicked off her sandals and started walking to where the waves were cresting. Not sensing Clay following her, she looked back at where they had placed the blanket to see him still sitting there with a goofy grin. "Come on slow poke!"

Before she could even take a step into the water, Clay scooped her around the waist and spun her around, his deep laughter combined with Emma's light giggle and floated through the salty breeze. Looking down at the girl in his arms, Clay leaned down and kissed her, pressing her small body against his as the water ebbed and flowed around their feet. Emma's dress fluttered in the breeze and she felt Clay put his arm around her waist and pressed her close. Before they could deepen the kiss further, Clay's phone rang.

"I guess that's our cue huh?" Emma said ruefully, thinking that Clay was getting spun up.

"Not quite Em, I just set an alarm so I wasn't late getting you back. I don't want to give your dad any reason to make me run hills." As they began to pack up their things, Emma took the blanket and wrapped it around her arms, slightly chilled from her walk along the water. Pulling up to her driveway, Emma looked at all of the cars parked in the driveway and groaned.

"What's the matter Em?" Clay looked over at Emma's face, watched as it grew red.

"I didn't realize that everyone was going to be here, they're going to make jokes. It's not that I'm embarrassed of going out or that I don't want them to know or anything, I just don't want them making assumptions about anything we did or didn't do. Uncle Sonny has a tendency to do that"

"If anybody says anything, I'll handle it Em. They all know we're going out, nothing more should be said about it. And I know you're not sweetheart, you're like me. These things aren't for anyone else to know but us."

Walking up the driveway, Clay kissed Em on the cheek and was startled by the porch light coming on suddenly and the door being yanked open to see Sonny standing there with a beer in one hand and a noise maker in the other, ready to go off and embarrass them if Sonny had caught them in a compromising position."Well, look at this, Romeo walked Juliet to her door. What a gentleman," Sonny cackled, not seeing the way that Emma's face flushed and tears sprung into her eyes. Letting go of Clay's hand, Emma pushed past Sonny and went into the kitchen, away from the prying eyes of her father's team.

Clay watched as Emma stalked past him, letting her take some time to collect herself. He was sure that Davis would have something to say to the girl that he couldn't pretend to understand. Clay pushed Sonny and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "What do you think you're doing Son?" The boys hearing the commotion, ran to the door and watched Clay whisper yell at Sonny.

"Hey now, brother, what's going on?" Ray, ever the peacemaker, tried to defuse the situation, unsure of what was happening.

"Sonny doesn't know when to leave things well enough alone, thinks that he can just tease Em whenever he feels like it. Doesn't take into account how she might feel because he wants to shoot shit with me."

Jason came up from the shadows, "That true Son?" Jason wanted to see how Clay was going to handle this, and based on the soft voices that were coming from the kitchen, Davis was consoling Emma. Clay wouldn't go after Sonny until he knew that Emma was being taken care of, no matter how mad he was.

"I was just making a joke Jace, sunshine knows that I don't mean nothin' by it," Sonny protested, not quite understanding why everyone was getting all uptight by some harmless ribbing.

"Ever think that maybe she doesn't like that? It's one thing to joke with us Sonny, Emma has never been the butt of one of your jokes before," Trent tried to explain delicately, not wanting to anger the man any more than he already was.

"Or the fact that maybe, just maybe, this is something that she'd like to keep to herself," Clay stated, letting go of Sonny's collar. Sighing to himself, Clay ran his hands through his hair, unsure of where to go from here. "You have to realize Son, that she is not ok right now. Jay and I are trying to help her through it, but after losing Alana… she's hurting." At his words, the boys all looked down, each still silently struggling with the hole that Alana left in their lives.

"I'll apologize to sunshine, maybe one day this week her and I'll go out to ice cream like we used to when she was small. You remember that Jace?" Sonny smiled at the memory of the young woman with ice cream around her lips, eyes sparkling bright at the sugar rush.

"You boys settle this like men or are you going to sit around and talk about this like Emma and Hannah would?" Lisa Davis came strolling into the doorway, still upset that Sonny had hurt Emma's feelings.

"Yeah Davis, we're good now." Clay and the rest of Bravo walked into the living room where the game was still playing, beer bottles all over the coffee table. Hearing Emma moving around the kitchen, Clay was surprised to find Emma's phone lying on the table next to the reusable water bottle that she liked to carry around. Clay glanced down at it when it lit up, but put his attention towards the game again. When the phone rang for the first time, then the second time, Clay looked down at the phone again.

"Hey Em," Clay called out as he got up from the couch. "Your phone's going crazy,"

"Who is it?" Emma voice called from the kitchen where she was attempting to calm down, not wanting to go into the living room with tears in her eyes. There was no reason to give the men anything else for them to pick on, even if it was harmless.

"It's Hannah," The boys stared at Clay, unsure of why he was freaking out about a few text messages and a phone call.

Emma walked over to the door frame, concerned. Hannah wasn't one to blow up her phone, even if something was happening. "What is she saying?"

Clay handed her the phone as it rang again, and then watched as Emma's face went pale. "Hey Han, what's up?" There was a brief pause where Emma was listening to whatever Hannah was telling her. Looking around at his brothers, Clay noticed that he wasn't the only one paying attention to what Emma was saying.

"Where are you?" Each man took notice as Emma started to slip on her shoes, and grab her keys. "No, no Hannah stay there. Lock the door and don't open it for anyone but me, I'm on my way. Don't move. What did he give you? Did you drink something?" At her words, Jason stood up and went to stand beside Emma, as she was listening to Hannah on the phone. Horror was slowly washing over her face, tempered with a steely gaze that Clay had only seen previously in Jason while in the field. "How much blood Hannie? Han, I'm putting you on speaker ok, everyone's here"

"Em? Em, I'm scared," Hannah's sobbing voice came over the phone. "Please help me."

"I know Han, I'm coming, but you have to tell me where the blood's coming from, are we going to the emergency room?" Emma questioned as the boys crowded around the kitchen table, each listening to one of their own, helpless. The game was long forgotten.

"No! Emma please no emergency room, please, he'll know I went there," Hannah sobbed.

"He doesn't have to know Han, we can keep it from him," Emma tried to reassure her, looking anywhere but the men surrounding. Looking eyes with Davis, she nodded slightly. "He hit you again Hannie?"

"Yeah," she whispered, "with a beer bottle." Each man stiffened and Davis swore silently, not wanting to think about someone they cared about bleeding, in pain. They weren't in some hell hole of a dessert, they were home. "I said no Emma, I didn't, Emma," Hannah's voice sobbed, breath hitching painfully in her chest.

"Han, I'm on my way to you, just breathe for me. That's it Hannie" Emma paused for a moment, listening to Hannah take deep breaths over the phone. "I need help on this one Han, either I call James and have him meet me there, or I bring Uncle Trent. Pick one, then I'm coming to get you." Making eye contact with Trent, he moved to get the med kit that was stashed underneath the sink, anticipating that Hannah would prefer one of them to come get her, even if this 'James' guy was someone that they both knew.

"Uncle Trent Em, but, um, will you still call James?" Hannah said softly, tears starting to slow, content with the fact that Emma was going to be on her way.

"Yeah Hannie, Uncle Trent and I are going to come get ya, stay on the phone though. Aunt Lisa and the boys are all here. I betcha if you ask nice, Uncle Sonny will tell you a crazy bar story"

"Sure will star shine, lemme tell you about the time I had to go after your daddy when we were still in green team…" Sonny's voice trailed off as Emma grabbed her keys and walked to the front door with Trent, Clay following behind them.

"Be careful Emmie K," Clay whispered before kissing her softly.

"I will, Clay. It's not an OP, just picking her up" Emma looked up at him, safe in the comfort of his arms.

"Even so, Emma. I've got a bad feeling about this," Clay said seriously, looking at her firmly to get his point across.

"Ok," Emma stated, not willing to fight with Clay. "Will you call James? Hannah's going to want him here."

"Sure thing, Em. He on base right now?" Clay reached for his phone, intending on calling the young man that had been best friends with Emma and Hannah since they were children.

"I don't know, you're probably going to have to try both numbers. I left my phone with the boys, so if anything call from my phone, he'll answer me if he knows what's good for him." Another soft press of lips and Emma was out the door with Trent, going off to a modern day war scene, a fraternity house party.

Emma's heart was pounding as she and Uncle Trent drove through the sleepy town towards the sketchy house where Hannah was currently hiding out in. Hearing the bass thumping from the house, Trent raised one eyebrow at Emma. "House party?"

"Yeah, she's been seeing a guy that apparently wanted to bring her to one, she told me that she wasn't going to go. She must have decided to go last minute," Emma worried her bottom lip. "She still should have told one of us, we would have gone with her,"

"You can't focus on that right now, you just have to deal with the situation at hand," Trent paused, surveying the scene and the drunken occupants of the house "I'm guessing I can't go in there and scoop her, can I?"

Emma shook her head, unbuckled her seatbelt, and unlocked the door. "Give me ten minutes, then if I'm not out, I don't care. Come find us." Seeing Trent nod, Emma jogged to the open door and began to make her way through the throng of people, each not present in the world that they were currently in. Walking up the stairs to the bathroom that Hannah told her she locked herself in, Emma banged on the door calling out to Hannah, but was unsurprised at what she saw when the door opened. Hannah crawled to the door and opened it, blood pouring down her face and shirt ripped, vivid bruising already present on her throat.

The boys were used to Sonny rambling as he told stories by the fire, so they weren't that concerned when he started telling variations, all PG-13 of course. Hannah's sobs had slowed down to quiet sniffles and groans of pain when she moved. The sound of banging came over the phone and Hannah squeaked. Then they heard Emma call out her name. The door opened and the boys were waiting with bated breath for what was to come, they were not prepared for the blue streak that came out of Emma's mouth. "Holy fucking shit Hannah, what did he _do_? Son of a motherfucking asshole, Hannah, what the fuck!"

"Em? What's happening?" Jason ground out, not liking that Emma was in danger and not liking the slight panic in her voice even more. "Where's Trent?"

"Sitting in the car, he can't go into a house party, he'd cause panic," Emma said distractedly, trying to figure out how she was going to get Hannah out of this. "Hannah put the towel on that, press hard. Harder Han." The boys heard her cry out and each internally winced, they were probably the only people that knew what it was like to hold pressure on a wound, it fucking hurt. "Clay, you get in touch with James?"

"Yeah Em, he's on his way to the house, what do you want me to tell him when he gets here?" Clay answered, shaking off the confused looks from his brothers.

"I want you to tell him that he's a fucking moron and that he'd better have a damn good explanation for when I get there," A beat of silence followed her words, before Sonny piped up. "I don't know who this James fella is, but I want front row seats to when you rip him a new one Sunshine."

There was silence for another moment, before the sound of sirens came through the line. Emma cursed once more, "Every fucking time, I swear Hannah. Can you get up?" There was the sound of scuffling then Emma's insistent voice again, "Alright Han, we gotta move," Emma grunted and then all that came over the phone was her heavy breathing and the occasional whimper from Hannah. The whimpers stopped and then the phone got muffled and dropped. Hannah's voice screeched out "Emma! Leave her alone!" before the sobbing started again. The next thing the boys heard was a car door opening, then Trent, "What he fuck happened? Emma!"


	4. Chapter 4

"I'm fine Uncle Trent, not my blood. James can take care of me at the house, help Hannah," Then the line cut out, leaving five men and one woman standing anxiously around a cell phone. "Jason, what are the chances that Emma got herself into trouble here?" Ray asked the question that they were all thinking. From the sound of the phone conversation, it didn't look good for the blonde.

"Pretty high, Emma's not one for people taking advantage of others. She also has to be worried if she asked you to call James," Jason said to Clay, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"Huh?" Clay said, broken out his anger-filled daze. "Oh yeah, Em would want to worry him unless he needed to be here. I wanna know what Hannah told her that would even prompt her to ask for James." Clay said thoughtfully, shaking out his hands which had long since gone numb from squeezing the chair in his hands.

"Sorry, maybe I'm out of the loop here. Who's James?" Brock piped up from further inside the kitchen where he had come out with glasses of water for everyone.

"Hannah's best friend, which by default in the land of girls, Emma's best friend," Davis explained. "He enlisted last summer as a combat medic before their senior year. I think he got shore duty the other week."

"You meet him yet lover boy?" Sonny asked, leaning on the wall.

"I've spoken with him, he was deployed for most of the time that I've been on Bravo. He's a good kid, tempers out Em and Han a little bit." Clay grinned, remembering the various times that James had delivered some well deserved ribbing to both of the girls.

"And how come we've never heard of this fella?" Sonny stood up from the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. He didn't like the idea of anyone getting close to his sunshine without him knowing about it.

"I don't know Son, I don't introduce every friend that Emma or Mikey makes to the team. He was always more of a friend to Hannah than to Emma," Jason sighed wearily, hoping that he could make it through this event without waking Mikey up.

The men were lost in thought when the door slammed open. Trent and Emma rushed in, with Emma carrying Hannah over her shoulder, covered in blood, one side of her jaw bruising already.

"Clay! Take her from me," Emma panted out, weary from carrying Hannah the short distance from the car to the kitchen table. Trent moved all of the glasses from the table to the kitchen counter and set the med kit up while Sonny and Clay manhandled Hannah into a lying position on the table. Before anyone could move, the door banged open and James sprinted through the doors.

"Em? What the hell?" James rushed out, leaning down to bend over Hannah, pushing Sonny out of the way.

"I don't know James, I wasn't with her! Where the fuck were you?" Emma said, planting her hands on her hips, trying not to sway where she stood.

"And why, pray tell, were you _not_ with her? You knew that she wasn't going to tell you where she was going." James said, stalking over to her and glaring down over her. "You knew that the piece of shit was going to try something tonight, he tried it once before already!" The men in the room bristled at the tone that he was using with Emma, but were shocked at the scathing response that came from Emma.

"I can't be with her every fucking minute of the day Jay! I can't take care of everyone and their mother and go to school and take care of Mikey and stay sane! _You_ were supposed to be on her tonight, not me! I cannot do everything!" Emma shouted, shoving her pointer finger into James's chest. Her chest heaving, Emma's shouting shocked everyone into silence. "The more important question here is where the _fuck_ were you!"

"Getting briefed Emma, doing my fucking job!" James roared, towering over her.

The silence was broken by Hannah's voice, shaking, "Both of you stop fighting!"

Their heads whipped towards her, both suddenly realizing that their friend was still bleeding on the table. James reached over to hold her hand, and began to acknowledge the several men that surrounded the table. "You James?" The man who was working to clean the large gash on Hannah's forehead asked.

"Yeah, Petty Officer James Montgomery, sir, medic," James got out, before his attention drifted back down to Hannah.

"I need you to focus on Emma right now, let me do what I can for Hannah. My brothers will help me if I need it." Trent stopped working to glance up at James, noting the panic that was clear as day across his face. "You're no help to me if you're personally involved," lowering his voice, Trent added, "Emma needs you more right now."

James nodded and scanned his eyes across the room, the African American man was moving on the opposite side of the medic along with a man with a backwards turned baseball cap. Another African American woman was standing just behind them. Looking behind him, he saw two men crowding around Emma, trying to deal with the worst of the blood. Giving Hannah's hand one more squeeze, James got up, took a deep breath and forced some humor into his voice. "Emma Kate, what on _Earth_ did you get yourself into?

"Screw you James, don't call me Emma Kate," Emma bit out, still not pleased that James had essentially blamed her, and not happy that James was calling her by her full name. "And it's not mine, I've been trying to tell them that it's Hannah's blood."

"Alright, the blood might be hers Emmie K, but that bruise sure as hell isn't." The men standing in front of her, looked over at him before going back to Emma.

"Em, if you don't want me or Clay looking you over, why don't you let James do it? Keep him away from Hannah while Trent works on her." James recognized Mr. Hayes, so the blonde standing next to him must be Clay, the new boy that Emma was apparently dating.

"I'll even let lover boy help me, you know how much that takes." James cajoled, trying to work past Emma's stubborn nature. James naturally liked to work alone on his patients, as he didn't typically have an assistant when he was in the field.

"Fine. But we're staying in the kitchen. Knowing Hannah she'll up and disappear if I take my eyes off her for a minute." Smiling slightly, Emma joked, "You should have chipped her when you had the chance Jamie." Emma hopped up on the kitchen counter, James standing in front of her, Clay and Jason on either side of her.

Opening his med kit, James looked at the mess of Emma's neck before turning to Jason. "Do you have any washcloths? I don't want to tug at her neck with alcohol wipes." Jason nodded, still silently fuming and escaped for a moment leaving Clay and Emma settled near each other. James observed for a moment the way the Clay held tightly to Emma's hand and put two and two together.

"You must be Clay, I'm James," James held out his hand for Clay to shake as Jason was walking back into the kitchen with a bowl of steamy water and some washcloths. "You want to try and wash some of that blood off while I look at Em's jaw?"

"Yeah man, whatever you need," Clay took the washcloth and started dabbing at her neck, trying to hide how badly his hands were shaking from Emma.

"Alright Emmie K, you got all your teeth in there? Any feel loose?" James looked into her eyes with a light he dug out of his bag, checking to see that her pupils were reacting to light. James snapped some gloves on and felt around her jaw, up over the bridge of her nose, and towards the eyes, noting the slight wince of pain when he pressed underneath her right eye. "Em, that hurt?" he questioned as he pressed the spot again.

"No, not the eye, my face is fine. It's sore, but that tends to happen when you get hit." Emma explained, trying to slowly shy away from Clay who was putting pressure on her neck to get the stubborn dried blood off.

"Then what's hurting?" James held eye contact with Emma, trying to ensure that she would tell him the truth.

"Nothing hurts, James. It's just uncomfortable." Emma ground out. Clay's hands stopped in their tracks, a worried glance settling on his features.

"Uncomfortable is another word for painful Em, let me take a look. Mr Hayes, can you shine the light over her neck?"

"Call me Jason kid, Mr. Hayes makes me feel old." Jason took the penlight and shined it over Emma's neck and hissed when tiny beams of light refracted off of Emma's neck.

"Em," Clay whispered, noting the glass stuck in the shallow wounds that were sluggishly bleeding. "You said the blood was Hannah's."

"I thought it was, I didn't even realize that there was glass everywhere, wasn't really my priority at the moment." Emma winced again as James dabbed at the skin. There weren't many cuts, and most of them were shallow enough to not need stitches, but James was going to have to go digging around with tweezers to get the stubborn bits of glass, not to mention having to peel Emma's dress from her bloody shoulder. This wasn't going to be fun, for anyone.

Trent looked at the girl in front of him, silent tears were streaming down her face and the vivid bruising around her wrists and neck made it quite obvious what had happened to the girl. Wiping the blood away from her hairline, Trent made the decision to give the girl a mild sedative, hoping to calm her down enough to treat the other scrapes that weren't quite as serious.

"Trent, do you want me to grab a shirt for her to wear? Something that might make her feel a little less exposed?" Davis asked tactfully, noting that the poor girls bras was out and her shorts left little to the imagination.

At Trent's nod, Davis scurried up the stairs to Emma's room and picked out an oversized shirt from the dresser and a pair of sleep shorts that she knew Emma favored. Davis also grabbed a button up pajama top and pants for Emma, hoping that the buttons would be easier for her to manage than lifting her arms over her head. By the time that she had gotten down the stairs again, Trent had dressed the wound on her forehead and Hannah's eyes were closed, faced relaxed in slumber.

"I sure as hell hope that we're going to go after whoever the hell thought they could do this to my star shine." Sonny said darkly, imagining the creative ways that he could exact his revenge.

"You will do no such thing Sonny Quinn, this goes higher and deeper than anyone knows at the moment. Emma will tell you if she thinks that you need to know. Right now, help me get this shirt over her head." Davis said firmly, shutting down any further speculation.

With Hannah dressed, Sonny glanced at Trent. "Anything else that you can do for her?" Trent shook his head and looking over at Ray, gently scooped her up and set her down on the couch, each one silently standing watch over the sleeping girl.

Ray broke the silence a moment later when Brock came past with Cerberus in tow. "What I really want to know here is how Emma knows what's going on and why she didn't tell anyone about it"

"From what it sounds like, Emma isn't letting anyone in other than Clay and Jason," Brock mused

"Can you blame her? The kid's gone through a lot in the last six months and she's been essentially trying to keep a household afloat. That would cripple most adults."

"No I don't blame her for bein' overwhelmed and not knowing where to turn, but the girl's gotta learn that Bravo is family, and family sticks together. Any of us would have dropped what we were doing to help her." Sonny said firmly, dragging a blanket to cover Hannah's sleeping body when he saw her shiver.

"You have to admit, Sonny, lately we haven't done the best job of supporting her, or Clay for that matter." Ray pointed out, delicately. It was always a balance to try and get the hotheaded man to see sense, one wrong inflection or word choice and it would send him into a tailspin.

"And that is going to end tonight." Sonny said firmly, not leaving any room for debate.

The boys fell into silence again before they heard cries from the kitchen and Jason came out, rubbing his hand down his jaw.

"Brother what is it?" Ray pushed himself off of the back of the couch where he was leaning, not liking the look on Jason's face.

"Kids kicked me out, Em's got glass stuck everywhere and apparently I was 'hovering'." Jason sat down heavily on the couch, looking at the sleeping face of Hannah Seaver. If his daughter had been in her position, he didn't know that he could be calm, even now it was hard and it wasn't even his kid. After Adam's death, he swore to protect his wife and children, it was the least he could do for a fallen brother. Now it was time to make good on that promise, even if it was the last thing he did.

"Jason, is what Clay said true? Is Emma really having a rough go of it?" Brock asked, sure that the confident young woman that they knew wasn't as broken as Clay was making it seem.

"Yeah, she is Brock. She's hurting and I don't know how to help her. She wants me to keep operating but doesn't want to tell me when things are bothering her. Tries to take care of Mikey and do it without Naima or my mom. I don't think she's even taking a music course anymore. I don't know what to do." Jason got up from the couch and started pacing, trying to plan out anything that would help Emma to regain some of the confidence that she had lost with Alana passing. Mikey wasn't having the same problems that Emma was having, his was more of the fact that he missed someone constant in his life, which Emma filled. Jason was actually surprised that he was sleeping through everything, the kid was more like him than he thought.

"I think we need to be here, when we can. We have a few weeks off of OPs this month while the new Green Team comes through. Anytime we're free, we're here with Em and Mikey." Ray reasoned, thinking about subtle ways they could offer their assistance without overwhelming the girl or making it obvious that they were hovering. Looking at Sonny, Ray pointedly said, "That also includes laying off of Clay and Emma going out Son, let the girl take the support that she needs."

"Ray, I hear you loud and clear. No more messing with Sunshine and Rainbow. Jace, you're gonna have to kick me out with how much I'm going to be here."

The boys heard footsteps coming from the kitchen and Emma walked into the living room clad in pajamas, blood cleaned from her neck with small wounds still sluggishly bleeding and an ice pack in hand. Sitting in the armchair across from the couch, Emma switched on the lamp above her for James. Closely behind her were Clay and James, each with a look of concern and trepidation on how this was going to go.

Clay was petrified. Emma was sitting in front of him, bleeding, wincing in pain. If he thought finding her sick was bad, this had to be ten times worse. No matter which way he pressed, Emma cried out. The problem was that James wouldn't even try to fish out the pieces of broken glass without the dried blood being cleared so that he could see.

"Em, you want me to give you something so it doesn't hurt so bad? Few of those are going to need stitches." James said carefully, knowing that Emma didn't have the best reactions to medications.

"No pain meds Jamie, I'm fine." Emma ground out, wincing once more when Clay wiped the last of the blood away from her jaw.

"Emma, if I have to go fishing around in there, it's gonna hurt like a bitch."

"Can you guarantee that it won't make me sick, or make me loopy, or feel like I'm dying?" Emma stared into his face, knowing that there was no way that the medic would guarantee anything

"You know damn well that I can't do that Em, but I can guarantee that if I'm going to give you anything, I have meds that'll make it easier on your system."

"But I still might get sick, might not be myself."

"Yes, those are possibilities. What's certain though, it that the pain you're going to feel is going to be awful. And if it were Hannah, I don't know if I could watch someone take glass out of their shoulder while they're crying in pain, so maybe you should be a little nicer to lover boy." James knew that he was pulling a low blow, but he wanted to ensure that Emma was going to get the best possible care, even if she was a little mad.

Emma looked over at Clay, noting how his hands were shaking as he wrung out the rag. His face remained impassive, not wanting to sway Emma one way or the other.

Emma thought for a moment, being stubborn wasn't going to help anyone and would likely cause Clay more pain. "Ok, game plan. You're going to get set up for taking the glass out in the living room, Clay's going to help me get out of this dress, and then we're all going to take a deep breath while you get the glass out. I'm going to try it without the meds, but if I need to tap out I will. Uncle Trent can give me whatever meds you think I need Jamie, and after all that is done, I want to curl up on the couch with a glass of wine and not move. Agreed?"

Both boys nodded and Jamie left the kitchen to bring his med bag into the living room, stopping when he heard the boys talking about Emma. On deployment, James had heard of both Alana's and Adam's deaths and he had tried to get bereavement leave, but that was declined before the papers even crossed the desk. All James could do was settle for a phone call or facetime whenever he had the chance, which wasn't very often. Hearing the men talk about how they were going to be there for Emma made James silently vow to be there for Hannah, in whatever way she wanted him to be.

With Clay and Emma alone in the kitchen, Emma finally gave herself permission to rest. Her shoulders slumped and she rested her head on Clay's strong shoulders, drawing comfort from the scent of his cologne and his warm arms around her.

"You starting to crash Em?" Clay asked, seeing the tension drain out of her body. The adrenaline that was flowing through her veins had to be coming down, especially now that Hannah was taken care of and the danger had passed.

Emma nodded, suddenly too tired to speak. Moving her head tugged on the sore skin and she winced, reminding Clay of injuries that still needed to be tended to. "How we going to do this Em, pretty sure that dress is trashed." The pretty cap sleeved dress that Emma had worn on their date was now covered in blood, stuck in places to Emma. There was no way that Emma was going to be able to lift her arms so pulling it up wasn't a good idea.

"You're going to have to cut it," Emma sighed. Neither of them realized that cutting the dress of would show a lot more skin than Emma was used to showing. By the time that Clay had cut halfway down the top of the dress, Emma had flushed bright red and was looking anywhere but Clay's face.

"Emmie K, I promise you, right now I'm more focused on getting you fixed up. The next time your shirt comes off it'll be because you want it to, not because you're injured. Ok?" Clay nudged Emma's chin up with his fingers, forcing her to look at him. Placing a small kiss on her forehead, Clay helped her get into the pajama top and held out the pants for her to put. Grabbing the ruined dress off the counter, he helped Emma down and followed her into the living room, slightly unsure of how this was going to go down.

Clay and Emma walked into the living room where the other men of Bravo were clearly having a conversation, one that he would definitely be filled in on when Emma was taken care of and asleep. James came bustling through the door with his kit and sprawled it open on the living room table.

"Alright Emmie K, I'm going to start nice and easy here, tap out at anytime ok?" James waited until Emma nodded. Turning to Trent, James asked, "Are you comfortable giving her medications? I have no way of knowing if she's going to be allergic to anything we give her, so it might be a gamble depending on which way we go."

Trent nodded and moved to look through the various vials that were lined up neatly, but before he could draw anything up, Emma interrupted.

"I don't want medication yet, just get it over with Jamie."

"Sunshine, ain't nobody here going to think anything less of ya if you took some of that medication. No need to tough it out if you don't have to." Sonny drawled from across the room where he was leaning on the door frame. Jason and Ray were seated on the couch with Hannah between them and the tension was pouring from their shoulders and the set of their jaws. Brock sat in the other armchair and held tightly to Cerberus's leash, afraid that the pup would try and protect Emma when he noticed the pain she was going to be in.

"I know that, but the pain medication that he's going to give me is either going to make me sick or I'll be dopey. No thank you." Clay sat on the floor next to her and held onto Emma's hand, trying to provide as much comfort as he could.

Seeing that Emma wasn't going to budge, James pulled out his tweezers and got to work pulling out tiny slivers of glass. Emma was doing a remarkable job of keeping herself still and not making noise, but as James got to the largest gash, it all went to hell. Twisting the lamp above her head, James sucked in a deep breath.

"What?" Clay said from the floor, not liking the indecision on the young medic's face.

"There's two, maybe three pieces in this one. Not gonna be pretty trying to get it out or stitching it up." James furrowed his brow, trying to decide which was the best way to get them out and cause the least amount of pain.

"Just go for it Jamie, I'll tap out if I need it." Emma was pale, sweating from pain, yet stubbornly holding onto her wits and keeping any cries of pain internal.

James put the tweezers on the first piece of glass and pulled. It didn't budge. Wiggled, still not moving. Finally he yanked, and Emma lost her composure. Lifting her other arm, Emma tapped whatever body part of James that she could find, not able to see through the tears in her eyes.

"Ok Em, you tapping out?" James still needed to hear it from her mouth, not wanting to assume anything.

Emma frantically nodded, holding onto Clay's hand, willing herself not to vomit.

Trent handed James a syringe filled with tramadol, something that Emma hadn't had before but would hopefully take some of the pain away. Watching Emma in pain was one of the hardest things that any of them had to do, right up there with leaving a brother behind. It just wasn't done if they could prevent it.

"Em, meds going in, you tell me if you feel anything ok?" Not waiting for Emma to respond, James jabbed the needle into the muscle of her arm and pushed the medication. Everyone in the room waited, hardly daring to take a deep breath while they watched Emma who looked up at James, around the room, and then slumped down in her seat, hardly able to move her head.

"That's a new one," Trent said, looking at Emma.

"What do you mean a new one Trent?" Clay asked, tamping down the panic flooding through his veins.

"Nothing Clay, I just haven't seen Emma react this way to a medication before. You said in the past she's vomited with pain medication. This one apparently calms her, something that is a known side effect of the medication. She's going to be fine, Clay."

Tapping Emma's cheek and getting no response, James quickly set to work at pulling out the last pieces of glass and instead of stitching the cut, placed a few steri-strips to close the wound. Packing up his equipment, James let his eyes rest on Hannah who was still asleep. His heart shattered at the sight of the bruises on her neck, but knew that he wouldn't be of any help to her while she rested. "If you all don't mind, I'll be back in the morning to take a look at Hannah," James directed his statement towards Jason and at his nod, he began to walk towards the door.

"Actually James, why don't you stay? Hannah might wake up in the middle of the night. Might be nice for her to have a familiar face." Jason stopped the man in his tracks. "I don't think any of us are going anywhere tonight, one more won't hurt." James nodded and put his med kit down on the table, too tired for words.

"Alright boys," Davis made her presence known once the crisis had been resolved. "Let's go figure out the bed situation and get some rest, I have a feeling that tomorrow's going to be a long day." The boys followed her up the stairs and James took the empty seat that Jason had been occupying, intent on staying with Hannah.

"Clay, take care of her. Don't jerk her around if you're not going to stay." James was quiet, but deadly serious in his statement. If Clay was going to leave her, he'd rather know upfront so he could deal with the aftermath.

"I'm not going anywhere man, this is for keeps." Clay stood, shaking out his cramped limbs. "She's the best thing that could have happened from me joining Bravo, this is real."

"Good, now get her in a real bed, she looks like she hasn't slept in months."

"That would be because she hasn't had a nightmare free night in months, not since Alana died." Clay said brusquely, as he lifted Emma into his arms. Emma was limp in his arms, but as he climbed the stairs to her room, she began to stir. Once Emma noticed that she was in Clay's arms, she calmed again as she was placed into the bed and Clay climbed in next to her.

"Em? You with me?" Clay asked, looking into her eyes to see if she was following his words.

"Yeah, I'm here Clay," Emma was slow to speak, but clear. She wasn't in any pain, but didn't feel nauseous. Her mind was clear, even if it was a little slow to process information. Emma rolled over and snuggled into his side, happy that the hellacious day was coming to an end. In her drugged mind, Emma thought about the way Clay's eyes had darkened when cutting off her dress earlier and she wondered what it would feel like if she were to actually want to take her shirt off for Clay.

Clay felt the bed shift before he felt Emma kiss his lips. Willing himself to stay calm, Clay pulled away and tilted her chin up and looked to see if there was any indecision on her face.

"Honey, what's going on here?" Clay asked, pushing the hair off her forehead, being mindful of the bandage placed on her neck and the bruise on her jaw.

"I wanted to kiss you." Emma said impishly.

"And I like that you want to kiss me Em, but maybe now isn't such a great time. Moving your jaw is going to hurt like hell if I kiss you the way I want to," Clay admitted. Knowing that if they started anything right now, it would escalate further than either of them were really ready for with emotions running high.

Emma pouted, but even the action of sticking her lip out caused her to hiss in pain. "Ok so you're right, that did hurt." The lust that pounded in her veins was still addling her brain a little bit, and it was hard to think through that and the medication.

Seeing Emma's widened eyes and the flush over her cheeks, Clay threw caution to the wind for a moment and rolled over her, bracketing her tiny hips with his legs and lying on top of her, chest to chest. "Tomorrow morning Em, if you still feel like this and you're not in as much pain, we'll see about it," He pressed an open mouthed kiss to the hollow of her throat and grinned when she shifted underneath him. "But right now, it's time to sleep." With that he rolled over to his side of the bed, clicked off the lamp and pulled Emma close.

"That was mean," Emma panted, stunned from Clay's show of dominance. "You're on Clay." Emma fit herself closely in front of Clay, grinning wolfishly at the thought of the following morning. Wiggling gently, Emma giggled when Clay tightened his hands over her hips and whispered in her ear.

"Emma, sleep. Tomorrow morning."

Sighing gently, Emma closed her eyes, wishing the hours would pass more quickly, content that her entire family was under one roof for the night.


	5. Chapter 5

Clay opened his eyes and was disoriented. It was still dark out, the moon glowing brightly through the open window. He recognized the white curtains and the vanity in the corner of the room. And of course her knew the girl that was wrapped in his arms. Studying her face, Clay noted that the bruising had gone down significantly on her jaw, though the bandages were a shock of white on her tanned skin. Looking at the clock, Clay noted the time, just about five AM, still plenty of time to snuggle down and sleep for a few more hours.  
"I can feel you staring at me," Emma groggily mumbled, keeping her eyes closed.  
"Didn't mean to wake you love. How do you feel?" Clay rolled onto his back and pulled Emma closer to his side, letting her rest her head on his upper body.  
"Better. Tired, but better. I don't feel like I'm floating anymore." Emma was silent for a moment, listening to the silence of the house punctuated with the snores of the men that slept down the hall. Lying on Clay, Emma thought of the promise that Clay made to her last night and lifted her head and looked at Clay with hooded eyes. "Does this count as tomorrow yet?"  
Clay chuckled and rolled over to brace himself over Emma, "Depends, do you want it to be tomorrow?" In the moonlight, Clay could just make out the flush that was spreading across her cheeks and the darkening of her eyes. Emma bit her lip and Clay groaned, dropping his head to rest on her shoulder.  
"What?" Emma asked, running her fingers through his messy blonde hair, half expecting Clay to pump the brakes.  
Clay raised his head to look into Emma's eye, "You look sexy when you bite your lip Emmie K, drives me crazy every time." Clay grinned rakishly when Emma's eyes widened, but was taken off guard when Emma surged up and kissed him, sucking his bottom lip into her mouth and cradling his head between her hands. Pulling back and panting slightly, Emma retorted. "Well you look sexy all the time, only fair that I get to make you feel the same way."  
"No competition, you definitely win here Em," Clay was dazed by the young woman. "You sure that you're not in any pain?"  
Emma smiled, she would never get used to how gentle this man was while he was with her. "I'm sure Clay, no pain. You're here with me, everyone's asleep, and I want to kiss you. Any other questions?" Emma ran her hand down Clay's chest, noting for the first time that he had changed from his jeans that he was wearing last night into a pair of soft basketball shorts and a T-shirt at some point in the middle of the night. She must have been more drugged than she realized.  
"That's all I needed love," Clay tipped her chin up and kissed her slowly, languorously. There was no rush and no expectations or anxiety of anything going further than either of them wanted to. Clay let his right hand wander up and down Emma's body. Feeling the muscles burning in his left arm, Clay pushed himself into a kneeling position next to Emma and let her sit up before Clay sat against the headboard and pulled her into his lap.  
Emma giggled, "We always seem to end up in this position"  
"That would be because I like you close to me." Clay leaned back down and sucked on the opposite side of Emma's throat and had to quickly wrap his arms around her lower back. Moving up and down the column of her throat, Clay felt Emma's small hands shifting on his shoulders and down his back. When Clay felt a hand low on his abdomen, he pulled back and raised an eyebrow at Emma.  
Not taking the time to think twice about it, Emma tugged the shirt off of Clay and shifted in his lap so that both of her legs bracketed his hips, both of them groaning at the sensation. Letting her hands wander freely, Emma kissed any part of Clay that she could reach; his jaw, his neck, the firmness of his upper body, before coming back to nibble at his bottom lip. Clay gasped and Emma gently licked into his mouth. As soon as their tongues brushed, Clay tightened his hold on Emma and bucked his hips, causing Emma to squeak. Rolling her hips over his again, Emma put her head on his shoulder and focused on breathing while Clay's hips shifted under hers and his hands roamed over her back. Emma grabbed one of Clay's hands and placed it under her top, on her stomach.  
Shaking his head, trying to think clearly, Clay asked "Emma?"  
Emma looked at his face and made the decision for him, unbuttoning her pajama top. Once the first two buttons were undone, Clay batted her hands away and took over the rest before opening the shirt, baring Emma's upper body encased in a soft bralette.  
"You're gorgeous Em," Clay said reverently, glancing from Emma's chest up to her face. "Can I touch you?" Even if Emma had taken her shirt off, Clay still wanted to get her consent. No man wanted an unwilling partner.  
Emma had lost the ability to speak, never before had she thought that she would be sitting on her bed with an attractive man, topless with no intention of stopping. Emma placed her hands on top of his, and nodded. Clay looked at Emma's face carefully while he brought his hands up gently, stroking her stomach and ever so slowly placing his hands on her breasts. The moment Clay cupped her breasts, Emma's head fell backwards and a groan escaped her lips. "Clay," she breathed softly, foreign sensations coursing through her body. Emma rolled her hips and brought her mouth down to Clay's jaw line and kissed until she met his mouth again and let her tongue stroke his. Feeling Clay use his thumb to stroke her nipple, Emma moved faster and faster, chasing something that was just out of reach.  
"Em," Clay groaned. He knew that she was chasing an orgasm, he could see it on her face. The way her chest heaved and the way her mouth dropped open as little breathy pants were coming faster and faster. Dropping his hands to her hips, he dragged Emma back and forth while bucking his hips into hers. Kissing down her neck, Clay glanced up and met Emma's eyes before sucking on Emma's nipple through the bralette and biting down gently.  
"Clay, Clay," Emma panted, whining. "Don't stop, please" Emma grabbed one of Clay's hands and placed it low on her abdomen, but Clay dragged it right back up on her back, toying with the strap of her bralette. "Clay, I need, I, Clay," Emma whispered, unsure of what she was really asking for but not knowing how to stop.  
"I gotcha Em, gonna lay you down. Can I take this off?" Clay fingered the hem of the lacy bralette and at Emma's frantic nod, he undid the clasp, peeling it reverently from her chest, and then rolling them over so that Emma's head rested on the pillow and her legs were wrapped around his waist. Clay wrapped his lips around her nipple and felt her small hands thread through his hair. Switching to the opposite breast, Clay bit down gently and tugged at the stiffened nipple and grinned at the stuttering moans dripping from Emma's lips. Grinding down, Clay felt Emma stiffen and then let out a low moan, legs shaking and eventually flopping down on the bed.  
Still shaking, Emma pulled Clay up and kissed him gently before snaking a hand in between them, intending on giving Clay the same pleasure that she just received. But Clay caught her wrist gently, "Em, you pull those pants down and we're not going to be quiet for long" He looked at her, knowing that he would still stop her even if she was insistent that they keep going. His girl liked to plow through things head on, but sometimes it was better to take things slowly. And they had pushed the envelope far enough already.  
"But you didn't…" Emma said, wondering if she was supposed to reciprocate.  
"That's ok honey, I can take care of this myself," Clay settled back down on the bed and watched as Emma hunted around in the sheets and put Clay's T shirt on before wiggling out of her pajama pants and pulling on some shorts that were lying on the floor. Lying down next to Clay, she kissed him lightly. "Thank you Clay."  
Deciding not to argue and tell her that she didn't have to thank him, Clay just kissed her and got up from the bed, intent on finding a hot shower and taking care of business.  
"Hey Clay?" Emma called from the bed, stopping him before he could open the door to the bathroom. Getting off the bed she walked towards him, and wrapped her arms around his waist and tilted her head up to look at him, still flushed with her chest heaving.  
"Yeah Emmie K," Clay squeaked out, not sure where she was going with this.  
"Think of me in there," She whispered before taking one hand sliding it down between their bodies once more, resting it just above the waistband of his shorts.  
Gasping, Clay retorted, "Don't you worry about that one Em, you're the only one I'll be thinking of, those moans of yours…" He trailed off as Emma grasped the pronounced bulge in her hand before pulling her away. "Honey…" he groaned, shutting his eyes at the sensation of her delicate hand wrapped around him.  
"Now you can go shower," Emma kissed him and pulled her robe off the hook on the door before opening the door, intent on going downstairs to find some coffee, and to take some time alone to slow her fast beating heart.  
Padding down the stairs, Emma saw the light on in the kitchen and heard soft voices murmuring in the early morning. Stopping short, Emma listened, trying to see who was awake.  
"Listen here, Ms. Davis. No one is awake yet and I, for one, have missed you." Emma took a chance and looked around the door frame to see Lisa sitting around the kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee while Sonny was rummaging through the cabinets before she returned to her hiding place.  
"I know that Son, I miss you too. But maybe this isn't the best place to be sneaking around," Lisa got up from the table and stood next to him, slightly hidden behind the pantry door.  
"Davis, we're not sneaking. Star shine is dead to the world over there, the boys aren't going to be up until they smell bacon, and Sunshine is still upstairs. One little kiss isn't gonna hurt nobody."  
The kitchen was silent again, and Emma couldn't resist looking again to see Sonny and Lisa kissing gently. Maybe Emma and Clay weren't the only ones that were exploring a relationship. Emma started when the shower turned on, and her face returned back to it's reddened complexion. The thought of him, in the shower, doing… well, she was grateful that no one was looking at her too closely right now.  
"Someone's up, Son," Lisa said, pulling away from Sonny. But before she could move out of the kitchen and discover Emma, Emma decided to make her presence known by walking into the kitchen, intent on finding some of the coffee that Lisa had made.  
"Morning," Emma said with a fake yawn, secretly pleased that she had found them together. If anyone deserved happiness, it was Aunt Lisa. The woman had to be a saint for dealing with all of the men on Bravo on a daily basis.  
"Morning Sunshine, how'd you sleep?" Sonny stuttered out, not knowing how much Emma heard or saw.  
"Better than usual Uncle Sonny, which was nice. All of you were home safe." Emma fixed her coffee, not noticing the look of concern that Sonny gave to Lisa. The girl had maybe slept for six hours and was up and functioning like she did this regularly. "You making the Quinn special for breakfast this morning?"  
"You betcha Sunshine, you want your normal order?" The first time that Sonny had met Mikey and Emma, they were both small. One day after an OP had gone bad and Jason ended up with twelve stitches in his gut, he made his way over to the Hayes' house intent on cheering up the kids with some breakfast, which is about all Sonny Quinn knew how to make. Ever since that day, Emma asked for it when Sonny was over in the morning.  
"If you don't mind Uncle Sonny, I can make breakfast if you want me too,"  
"Absolutely not, you sit your tiny little behind down on that chair and let me do some of this work for a change."  
Emma squawked in protest, then looked at the time on the microwave. "Shit, I have to get Mikey up for school." Looking longingly at her cup of coffee, she got up from her chair and began heading towards the stairs before being interrupted by Sonny, again.  
"Little miss, Aunt Lisa here is gonna go wake up Mikey and bring him to school for the day. You are going to sit your little butt down and finish your coffee before the rest of the heathens drink it all. Then you're going to eat your breakfast that I am ever so lovingly slaving over. And no, you are not going to do the dishes, Brock is on KP duty today." Sonny redirected Emma over to her chair and pushed her down into it and sighed internally. This girl was stretched thin, but getting her to accept any sort of help was going to be a challenge.  
"Aunt Lisa, do you mind?" Emma still had to make sure that it was ok, not wanting to assume anything.  
"Yeah Em, no worries." Lisa patted the girls shoulder gently as she looked at her face. The dark circles under her eyes were pronounced, making it look like Emma hadn't slept. Walking up the stairs, Lisa opened Mikey's door to find the boy still asleep in his bunk, with Brock and Cerberus asleep on the top bunk. Shaking Mikey awake, she looked up to Brock's inquisitive face staring down at her and Cerberus giving off a soft whine. Lisa mouthed 'school' and Brock nodded, intent on getting up and finding out where the rest of his brothers had slept.  
"Sonny downstairs?" Brock asked while Lisa attempted to get the boy out of bed.  
"Yeah, see if you can find the rest of the boys, breakfast is almost done. Emma is up already, I doubt she's going to school today"  
Brock wandered down the hallway and ran into Clay, pink skinned and fresh from the shower. "You see Ray or Trent yet?" Clay asked still slightly disheveled from the morning's events.  
"Right behind ya brother," Ray said as he and Trent walked out of the spare bedroom with Jason coming out of the master.  
"How did Emma sleep?" Jason asked, hoping that she wasn't sick. Or that she didn't have any nightmares.  
"As well as she could, no nightmares that I know of," Clay said, looking anywhere but Jason's face, not wanting to give away anything that had happened that morning. "Today might be rough, seeing Hannah like that couldn't have been easy." The men thumped down the stairs, each hoping not to wake Hannah. They didn't have to worry about waking her though, as she sat next to Emma at the kitchen table, nursing a mug of tea and holding onto James' hand.  
"Morning Emmie K," Clay placed a light kiss on Emma's lip, not caring about the men in the room or their reaction to him kissing Emma.  
When no one said anything, Emma raised her eyebrows at Sonny, half expecting a joke from him about her now being sleeping beauty or some shit. At least Mikey was already being driven to school and didn't have to witness her being the butt of a joke, again.  
"I'm not gonna say nothing Sunshine, long as he makes you happy, fine by me." Sonny stopped flipping pancakes to look at Emma, hoping that he could show her that he was being serious.  
Nodding, Emma went back to finish her coffee before getting up to make another cup. The only sounds in the kitchen were those of clinking silverware, each man and woman too tired to make conversation until they had their fill of pancakes, but more importantly, of coffee.  
Jason sat down his coffee mug, not knowing how to ask the question, but needing to get to the bottom of the problem so they could come up with a solution. "Emma, what happened last night?"  
Sharing a long look with James, Emma answered carefully, "You all know that Hannah called me from the party she was at after she ran into… some trouble."  
"Emma," Hannah warned quietly, not wanting Emma to reveal more than was necessary.  
"I went to pick her up with Uncle Trent, found her in the bathroom lying in glass. Some from a broken mirror, some from the bottle that was smashed across her forehead. Tried to figure out the best way to get her out when I heard the sirens, wanted to avoid being arrested so I got her up over my shoulder and carried her down the stairs and met a 'friend' of ours who really didn't want us to leave. Forced my way out, made it to Uncle Trent, and you all know the rest." Emma got up and placed more pancakes on her plate, feeling the weight of the previous evening settling on her.  
"And who was this 'friend' you ran into?" Ray asked. The events made sense, but they were still missing the specific information, like who's ass they were all going to beat.  
Emma sighed, waited for a moment. Looked at James. Then at Hannah. "I can't tell you."  
The room was quiet for a moment, then there was an explosion of sound. Jason and Trent protested loudly, Ray and Lisa sputtered, Brock scoffed. Each man was talking over them until Cerberus stood up and let out a mighty bark. Then silence reigned. Only Clay was silent, trusting that Emma would inform them all of something if it was something they really needed to know.  
Emma got up from her seat and started pacing back and forth behind the kitchen island, running her hands through her hair. "Jamie, is this really necessary?" Emma didn't like keeping people in the dark. Didn't like that she was being forced to keep things from Clay. Didn't like that her family was in danger.  
"Em," James sighed, looking over at Hannah. "If you go after him, it could ruin not only my career but also every single person in the entire room."  
"What other choice do I have Jamie! Are we just going to let him keep beating up on Hannah whenever he feels like it?" Hannah blushed and ducked her head further into her mug, not wanting to meet anyone's eyes. "What happens when he gets a little too angry? We got lucky last night James!"  
"I know we got lucky, Emma Kate," James spat out, trying to keep himself calm. "But if you want to go after an admiral's son, then you can't go off half-cocked without a plan. This backfires? Not only is Hannah in deep shit, but then so are you. So is Mikey. I don't know how far this guy's reach goes, for all I know it could go right up to SecNav and then we're all fucked."  
Emma stopped pacing, and looked at James' face, then looked at Hannah's. All of the men that were sitting around the table. "Ok, so what do we do? We need help here Jamie. I can't protect Hannah and Mikey by myself. You're deploying in two weeks, so you can't help. What do I do?"  
"Emma I don't need to be protected," Hannah tried to speak up, but her throat was hoarse and hard to make out, not very convincing. James squeezed her hand, but didn't otherwise agree or disagree with her. Ultimately, the decision was hers.  
"Emma, we're not going anywhere for at least a few months, we all took up a job with Green Team. At least three months stateside, only quick spin ups." Jason interjected.  
"Oh yeah Sunshine, we're gonna be here a lot more." Sonny was quick to jump in, hoping that this would at least calm Emma down a little bit. Every many could see the wild look in her eyes, the same one that appeared in the eyes of men wearing S-Vests. The door opened and Emma jumped a little, not expecting anyone so soon.  
"It's just me Em," Lisa said holding her hands up in front of her. "Mikey told me to remind you that you both have to go to the store tonight and get the stuff for his science fair project? And that he has practice tonight, so he's not taking the bus."  
"Right, today's Tuesday. Hockey practice," Emma sighed, thinking of all the things that she needed to get done today before coming back to the problem at hand.  
"Em, you think maybe it's time to call in that favor?" James raised his eyebrows at her, hoping that it would prompt her to think it over.  
"Think this qualifies?" Emma stopped her pacing, thought about it for a moment before opening the cabinet next to the refrigerator and pulling out a cell phone with only one number programmed into it.  
"Someone in imminent danger, I'd say so."  
"Emma, sweetheart, what is going on? We're all confused here, let us help you." Ray pleaded. His brothers were confused, he was confused. The girl had clearly gotten herself into something that was far deeper than she could stand.  
But it wasn't Emma that spoke, it was Hannah. "I got myself tangled into something that was far bigger than I understood at the time. This guy wasn't who I thought he was, he played all of us." Looking at the men who she called uncle, she looked at Jason. "Don't be mad at Emma, Uncle Jason. She didn't do anything wrong."  
"No one is mad here, Hannie, we just want to keep you all safe. I think you need to stay here for a little while, Emma's room is big enough to fit both of you until this gets settled." Jason softened his voice.  
"Call in the favor, Em. I can deal with the rest of it on base." James said, draining the rest of his coffee. "I have to be at the OP center in an hour, hopefully he'll get enough evidence to nail the son of bitch before I deploy."  
"Who is this favor coming from?" Clay broke his silence to look at Emma, who showed the number to Clay. Whistling lowly when he recognized the number, Clay looked at Emma. "How'd you manage that one?"  
"He owes me big time, and that's all I'm going to say about it." Walking out of the kitchen into the living room to make her phone call, James whispered softly. "This is what I'm talking about, she's spread too thin"  
"Don't you worry pretty boy, we're on this one. She's gonna get some rest if it's the last thing we do while we're stateside." Sonny vowed. His sunshine shouldn't be half as stressed as she was. She should be worrying about school and applying to college, not Navy politics.  
"We're all going to be here, she's going to have people." Trent reassured him, also concerned with the frightening shadows beneath her eyes.  
"Good, but you can't smother her either. She's used to doing this alone now, it'll be hard for her to accept help. Even from you," James said as he looked pointedly at Clay. "Han, do you want me to drop you off at home before I go on base? Pack a bag and I'll come scoop you after my briefing?"  
Hannah nodded and stood up, going to hug each of her adopted uncles before waving to Emma, who was still on the phone. Just as they were going to walk out the door, Emma called out from the living room. "Keep your phone on Hannie, check in when you can."  
"I will Em, I'll see you later tonight."  
The door closed and silence fell over the house again. Walking back into the kitchen, Emma sat back down and put her head in her hands. "You're all really going to be home for a little while?"  
"Yeah Emmie K, all of us," Clay said. He had wanted to tell her last night that he had gotten some time off, but with everything that had happened… there wasn't the chance.  
"I need help then, whatever you guys can do, I just… I need help." The walls that Emma had worked so hard to put up were coming down in the presence of her family. They weren't going to judge her.  
"And you're gonna get it Em, whatever you need. Why don't you go and lie down on the couch for a little bit? We're expected on base in a little bit, but we're all coming back here tonight. I'll even see if I can wrangle Eric." Lisa said with a smile.  
"I'm not really that tired Aunt Lisa, we just got up." Emma protested.  
"Humor me then, just lie down. Clay will even sit with you until we have to go." Lisa gave Clay the stink eye, daring him to say anything.  
"Who's going to pick up Mikey later?"  
"Trent and I will, I think he'd like to see Cerberus. We've got it covered Em, just rest."  
Not having any more arguments, Emma followed Lisa into the living room and laid down on the couch, pulling an afghan over herself. Closing her eyes, she could vaguely smell the perfume that her mom used on the blanket. Feeling Clay sit down next to her, Emma settled down and fell asleep, now that she was safe, it was ok to rest.


	6. Chapter 6

Captain Charles Harrington was having a good morning. He got to base early, made himself a cup of coffee just the way he liked it, and didn't have to deal with any bureaucratic bullshit. Then the phone rang and everything went to hell in a handbasket. Sighing, he picked up the phone, not looking at the caller ID. The only people who had the number for his cellphone weren't necessarily the people he wanted to speak to, this was going to be bad. "Captain Harrington,"

"Uncle Charlie?" a timid, tired voice came over the line. Sitting up straight in his chair, Harrington knew that voice. Emma Hayes should not be calling him at eight o'clock in the morning. Or any time really.

"Emma?" Harrington was still in disbelief. He never thought that Emma of all people would use her get out of jail free card. He thought it would have been James.

"I need help,"

"Whatever you need Em, say the word. Are you in trouble?" Harrington was trying to force himself to stay calm. It didn't sound like Emma was in trouble or that she was hurt, but the weariness and slight fear that he could hear in his voice worried him.

"No, no it's not for me. It's for Hannah," Well. Now that made more sense. Emma would do anything for her friend, even if it was at the expense of herself.

"What's the situation?" Harrington leaned back into his chair to listen, sure that Emma was going to say that Hannah needed something trivial. Maybe she needed her father home for a certain date.

"I need you to move a sailor, transfer him as far from Virginia as you can." The steel in Emma's voice made his breath stutter in his chest. How the girl turned into a young lady when they weren't looking still made him sad for the girl that she was before Alana died.

"I need more information than that Emma, I can't just go transferring sailors for no good reason."

"He smashed a beer bottle across Hannah's face and tried to force her last night, reason enough?" Even though Harrington couldn't see her, the sneer on her face came right through the phone line.

"What's his name, rank, and how the hell did she get caught up with him." Harrington meant business. No one messed with his kids, certainly not some snot nosed sailor.

"I don't know his rank, his name is Richard Stevens. He came through Green Team last spring and was dropped from bottom five by Uncle Adam. They met at the Army/Hockey game that Jamie played in before he deployed. I don't know much more than that, but Uncle Charlie? The guy can't be near her anymore."

"Richard Stevens, his daddy George Stevens? Admiral George Stevens?" Harrington was stunned. If Hannah had tangled with this guy and was getting burned, it would not do well to anger his father. The man was right up there was the Secretary of the Navy. He'd be a hard person to beat.

"Yeah, the one time I met him all he could talk about was how he was an Admiral's son and that we should show him 'the respect that he deserved'" The disdain rolling off of her voice was something that made Harrington chuckle, that tone was purely Jason Hayes.

"You think he went after her because of Adam?" Harrington said in disbelief. It was one thing to hold a grudge against the man, but to go after his children? That was a new low.

"I think so. Hannie doesn't like to talk about it, but I think he got close to her because he told her that he knew Uncle Adam. But I don't know that one for sure,"

"Ok Emma, I'll do my best. No promises." Harrington didn't promise her anything, but he knew damn well that if he had his way, that man wouldn't be coming near his family any time soon. Or in the next decade.

"Thanks Uncle Charlie," The relief in her voice made Charles Harrington pause. Whoever this son of bitch was caused his girls undue stress. They didn't need any more of that in their lives, and if he could do something to make it go away? He damn well was going to do just that.

"You're welcome, consider this one a freebie. You still got your get out of jail free card, ok? I'll try and stop by later tonight if I have any updates. You be good though, ok?"

"I will Uncle Charlie, I'll see you later tonight."

Hanging up the phone, Charles Harrington cracked his knuckles, took a swig of his now cold coffee, and opened his contact list. He may not be operating anymore, but he still had a few favors that he could call in.

The next thing that Emma knew, she was blinking in the late afternoon sunlight, with Jameelah curled up next to her on the couch. Looking at the TV, Emma blinked, closed her eyes, opened them again. The time read four thirty in the afternoon, she had slept the entire day away. Hearing a low chuckle, she turned to her right side, trying not to disrupt Jameelah.

"Look who's awake, have a good nap sweetheart?"

"Aunt Naima! Why did you let me sleep this long?" A slight panic started to creep up in Emma's shoulders. There was a lot of things that she still had to get done before she went to school tomorrow, she couldn't afford to miss another day.

"Because clearly you needed it, honey. You're running yourself ragged here." Naima, like everyone else, was concerned for the girl. She was going to get this girl to talk if it was the last thing that she did. Naima stayed silent, letting the girl flop back onto the couch cushion. "Emma, we need to talk about this"

"Talk about what?" Emma pouted, looking very much like Jameelah did when she didn't want to eat her broccoli.

"Why you don't want to take help from other people. Why you're trying to do everything by yourself. Why the only people you're letting in are Clay and your father, and even then, you tell them the things that they can't help you with. We need to talk about that."

"I'm not trying to keep them at arm's length, but there's nothing that they can help me with when they're off saving the world. They can't exactly come over and help me clean the house or make Mikey dinner or figure out how I'm going to be in two different places at once. They can't do anything about that."

"Aunt Lisa and I are always around, and even Aunt Darcy is available to you if you need her." Naima understood where Emma was coming from, the boys were often not home long enough to be much help in that department.

"I always feel like I'm bothering you guys. You have RJ and Jameelah to worry about, Aunt Lisa is on OPs, and if I call her on the sat phone the boys go nuts. And Aunt Darcy is usually at work or I can't reach her all the time."

"I can't speak for the others, but honey, I need you to listen when I say this. When Uncle Ray joined Bravo and I met your mama, we both promised each other that if something was to happen to either of our families, that we would look after the others. I take my promises very seriously, and it is one that I intend to keep."

"Mom really asked that of you?" Emma said quietly, fingering the floral pattern knit into the edge of the blanket.

"She did, and I asked her to do the same. Bravo is family, and family takes care of one another. Let me honor your mama, let me help you Emma."

"I don't even know where to begin, Aunt Naima," Emma ran her hand through her hair, frowning when she met some snarls

"Well, then I'll take something off your plate. Let me handle picking up Mikey."

"You're sure you want to do that Aunt Naima, with Jameelah's schedule and getting RJ to take his naps, I know he's been fussy -"

"Honey, let me pick up Mikey. I can manage picking someone up and dropping him off here or taking him to practice. That gives you more time to focus on school and spend time with your friends instead of shuttling back and forth." Naima waited for a moment and let Emma process, sometimes it worked better if the kids found their own way to the conclusion that she had come up with, most of the time they felt it was their solution in the end and it was a win-win for everyone. "Does that work?" Naima prompted when Emma was still silent.

"It does, I'm just tired of feeling like a burden," tears sprung to Emma's eyes. She wiped them hastily, not wanting to make a scene and wake the sleeping child on her lap.

"Emma Kate Hayes you stop that nonsense right now. If your mama was here she wouldn't stand for that kind of talk and neither am I." Naima said firmly, her own heart breaking for the girl.

"I know I'm not, but I feel like I can't do anything right. I don't know what if I'm doing enough for Mikey, I don't know what I want to do for college, I'm afraid that one day I'm going to get a phone call and lose my dad, or Clay, I can't even help Hannah. I'm not enough for anyone right now" Tears were steadily dripping down her face as she avoided Naima's gaze, twisting the blanket in her hands.

"Baby, you are so enough. Mikey is thriving because of what you are doing for him. Hannah is going to get through this because you were able to get to her in time. We can figure out the college situation, and it doesn't have to be decided today. You applied to a few schools locally right?" At Emma's nod, she barreled forward. "Alright, then you and I can go and look at them together and see what programs they have. Surely some of them have music."

"I don't want to sing anymore, Aunt Naima. With mom not here… it's not the same."

"If that's what you want Em, then we can look at other programs at the schools you applied to, but don't give up on something you love just because your mama isn't here to watch you. She's always here with you baby,"

"I know, but I need to do something that isn't music. Something that helps people. I have to think about it some more, talk to Clay about it too."

Naima smiled to herself. Emma and Clay were a frequent topic of conversation between herself and Alana Hayes. Naima thought she was crazy for allowing her teenage daughter to date someone almost ten years older than her, but looking at how Clay looked at Emma? No one could deny that what was there was something special.

"Speaking of Clay, the boys told me that they would all be back tonight by six and that they were bringing dinner, but you little lady should eat something before then. I betcha I can round up a snack for you and Jameelah." Getting up off the couch, Naima walked into the kitchen before turning around to watch Emma tuck Jameelah further into the covers, stroking her hair away from her face.

Sitting down at the table, Emma scrolled through the messages that had popped up on her phone while she was napping. "Hannah and James are going to be here around six too, we'll have a full house again."

Naima set a plate of apples and peanut butter down in front of Emma. "Good, and before they get here, we need to talk about one more thing. And I know this is none of my business, but you and Clay…" Naima trailed off, sure that Emma would get the jist of what she was saying.

Emma went bright red. "Aunt Naima, mom covered that a long time ago. I know all about the birds and the bees."

"Good, I'm glad. But that wasn't really what I was talking about honey. If you want to talk about things with me, stuff that you can't talk to Clay about or your dad, I'm here." Naima said her piece and decided to let it be, not wanting to make the girl more uncomfortable than she already was. "Let me take a peek at what's underneath that bandage, maybe I can put some bandaids on it instead of this big bulky thing."

Finishing her last apple slice, Emma tilted her neck to the side, patiently waiting for Naima to come and check the shallow slices on her neck. The tape was tugged off and Naima kept her face impassive as she looked at the damage. It wasn't as bad as she feared, but her immediate response was still rage.

"How bad is it? I didn't get a good look at it last night when Jamie was pulling the glass out." Emma was afraid that those cuts would scar badly. She would do it all over again, but she was allowed to be a little vain.

"Not as bad as I thought honey, two maybe three bandaids and you'll be good to go," Naima spread some antibiotic cream over the largest gash and placed the bandaids as gently as possible. "How does that feel?"

"Better, I feel like I can move my neck which is nice. Thanks Aunt Naima." Emma went to the sink and began to wash the dishes that she had used for their snack while Naima put RJ down for a nap in Emma's bed room.

"Emmie?" Jameelah came wandering into the kitchen, knuckles rubbing her eyes with her stuffed bear underneath her arm.

"Hi pretty girl, have a good nap?" Looking down at the girl, Emma chuckled silently at the bed head she was sporting.

"Uh huh. I dreamt I was a princess." Jameelah squeezed her bear tightly, spinning slightly as if she was dancing with her bear.

"Why don't we watch some princesses until mommy gets back, she's with RJ right now." Not waiting for the girl to make a decision, she grabbed her hand and walked her back into the living room. "I think I have Tangled."

Princess movies were a common theme for the girl when Emma babysat for Aunt Naima and Uncle Ray, so Emma made sure that she kept a few in the house for the random nights when Jameelah and RJ stayed with her.

"Yeah!" Jameelah snuggled down and let Emma turn on the movie for her, entranced by the music and characters on the screen. Once Emma saw that Jameelah was otherwise occupied, she went upstairs to change out of the pajamas she had worn the previous evening into some comfy leggings and an oversized sweatshirt. Checking on Jameelah before going back into kitchen, Emma grabbed her laptop, she had some work to do to try and determine what the future would hold. Emma was so focused on her search that she didn't hear the door open or the boys come through the door until she felt Clay's arms wrap around her shoulders. Tilting her head up, she kissed him, smiling underneath his lips.

"Hi Emmie K, how are you?" Clay was happy to see that Emma was at the table, looking a little more well rested than she had in the previous weeks.

"Better, turns out all I needed was some sleep and a little bit of tough love from Aunt Naima," Emma closed her laptop and turned to see who else had come in with Clay. "Where's everyone else?"

"Trent and Brock went to pick Mikey up from practice, but everyone else is on their way in. I came in first to see if you were awake, Naima hasn't updated us in a little bit and we didn't want to wake you."

The door opened again and Sonny and Jason staggered in carrying bags of takeout with Ray close behind carrying a case of beer. "Uncle Ray, let me help," Emma surged up from the chair and tried to grab the case of beer from Ray, when he refused she went over to Sonny to try and take a bag of food and was once again denied.

"Sunshine, just sit down. We've got this one. Where are the small ones?" Sonny drawled holding the bag of food high over her head.

"RJ is upstairs with Aunt Naima, he was being fussy earlier this afternoon. Jameelah is in the living room watching a movie. Are you sure I don't need to do anything?"

"We're sure Em, just sit back. What did you do today?" Jason said as he divvied out food onto plates. Mexican takeout wasn't his favorite choice, but it was Brock's turn to pick, which usually entailed the spiciest food that they could find.

"I slept most of the day which was nice, tried to catch up on some school work. Talked over some things with Aunt Naima."

"Things?" Jason questioned, looking over at Clay. Seeing the puzzled look on his face, it meant that the kid didn't know what she was planning. Emma liked to play things close to the vest, but usually Clay knew more than anyone else about Emma's plans.

"I have to do some more research before we talk about it," Emma said looking at her dad. It wasn't a good idea to tell her dad anything if there wasn't a formulated plan. "And I wanted to talk to you about it when we got a chance," Emma said, turning to look at Clay.

"Sure thing Emmie K, we can do that," He said, squeezing her hand. Just then a small voice called out from the living room. "Emmie?"

Looking at Clay wryly, Emma got up from her chair and walked into the living room to find Jameelah standing in front of the TV. "What's up pretty girl, you need something?"

"Yeah, can I have some juice?" Jameelah swayed from one foot to the other before following Emma into the kitchen, holding onto the sleeve of her sweatshirt. Once Jameelah got her juice, Emma still thought that she was acting oddly. Glancing at Ray, it seemed that he thought so too, mouthing over her head "What happened?"

Shrugging Emma heaved Jameelah onto her hip, "Anything else going on in that noggin of yours?" Emma didn't know what she was thinking about, but it had to be good if she was silent. Four year olds were very rarely this quiet.

"Can I tell you a secret?" Jameelah said, pouting a little bit.

"Is it a safe secret or just a girls only secret?" Emma said putting her down on the counter and taking the plastic glass out of her hand. Girls only secrets meant that Jameelah wanted to tell her something that she didn't want the boys to know, something that Emma came up with when she was getting upset that there was another boy in her house after RJ's birth.

"Girls secret, no boys Emmie," Jameelah said with all of the seriousness that a five year old could muster. "You have to pinky promise that you won't tell."

Grinning, Emma held out her pinky for Jameelah to shake, then bent down cupping her hand around her ear. "Remember to use your whisper voice if you don't want people to hear honey, ok?"

Jameelah then very carefully leaned over, still sitting on the counter, and whispered into her ear. "Uncle Clay looks at you the same way that Flynn looks at Rapunzel, is he your Prince?"

Emma felt her cheeks going red, and looked down at Jameelah and responded in a normal tone of voice. "What? You're being silly," Emma could feel everyone staring at her, but refused to make eye contact. Jameelah wiggled on the counter before leaning back in to whisper again. "He looks at you like daddy looks at mommy, are you gonna get married?"

Teasingly Emma responded, "I don't know Jameelah, should I ask him that?"

The men in the room all chuckled when Jameelah leapt into Emma's arms, wrapping her thin arms tightly around her neck. Wincing slightly as her neck was pulled, Emma supported the girl underneath her butt, giggling along with her, cheeks still bright red.

"No," Jameelah wailed. "You can't, it's a secret for a reason Emmie!"

"Ok honey, I won't tell," Emma said, snuggling her close. "Why don't we go back and finish the rest of the movie? Hannah is coming by soon,"

"Hannie's coming!" The girl squealed. All of her favorite people were in the same room, it was definitely a good night for the little girl.

Settling the girl back down on the couch, Emma heard the men chuckling in the kitchen at the little girl. Sometimes all you needed was to be reminded of what you were fighting for, Jameelah and RJ fit the bill exactly. Emma wasn't really paying much attention to the characters on the screen, but when Jameelah pulled at her sleeve before she could leave to go back into the kitchen, she saw the characters in the boat, a scene that Jameelah liked to act out with Emma.

"Emmie, sing! It's the song!" Jameelah exclaimed, climbing over onto Emma's lap.

"Oh honey, I don't know. Why don't we dance instead? You can be the princess?" Jameelah pouted but scrambled off the couch, waiting for Emma to lift her up.

Pretending to mock bow to Jameelah, Emma didn't see the boys watching her and Jameelah dance around the living room. Jameelah stood on her feet as Emma led them in a very basic waltz before singing to the ending of the song and swinging her up to give her a kiss on her cheek. When the song finally ended, Jameelah turned to see Uncle Ray standing against the wall, smiling slightly.

"Daddy!" Running over to him, she was scooped into his arms, quickly forgetting that there was even a movie playing.

With Jameelah otherwise distracted, Emma turned to look at Clay and Jason, who were both looking at her with small grins on their face. "What?" Emma said, self consciously.

Shaking his head, Jason replied, "Nothing. We used to do that when you were young, do you remember?" Memories from years ago of a smaller Emma whirled in his mind, a very tiny, fiery princess who only had eyes for her daddy. How times had changed since she was a child.

"Yeah, I do. We must have watched Beauty and the Beast more times than I can count," Emma chuckled at the memory of her and her father dancing just like the Beast and Belle did in the movie. Moving towards the kitchen, Emma went back to get some of dinner dished out before Mikey came home from practice. Grabbing plates from the cabinet, she felt rather than saw Clay wrap his arms around her.

"You're amazing, you know that?" Clay was in awe of the girl in his arms. Even while trying to rebuild her life, she took the time to be kind to Jameelah.

"I'm not, but thank you anyways." Twisting around to face him, she kissed his cheek before resting her head on his shoulder. Neither of them were paying attention to the men in the living room watching them, only in their own little bubble.

Clay worried about Emma all morning, barely keeping his head in the game while they were out running drills with Delta. He worried if Naima was going to get through to Emma, who this kid was that was messing with her and Hannah, if James was going to be able to protect them if he had to be spun up. All of those thoughts swirled in his head while he was away from Emma, but once she was back in his arms, they all melted away. Dropping his head on top of Emma's Clay inhaled the sweet scent of her hair before pulling away, grabbing the plates right out of her hands.

"Clay!" Emma protested, she wasn't an invalid, she could put food onto a plate.

"Come on now Sunshine, don't argue with Rainbow, we're gonna take care of everything for a little while." Sonny said softly, a small smile on his face while he watched them from the living room with Ray standing next to him. They were both silent while Clay and Emma stood in their embrace, but while watching them they couldn't help the grins that were coming over their faces. Rarely did they see Clay at peace, or as happy as he was when he was with Emma Hayes.

"Uncle Sonny, I know you all want to help and I'm grateful for it, but don't treat me like glass. I promise that I can handle getting Mikey's plate ready, he's gonna be home soon and he's like dad, if he doesn't eat after working out he gets cranky."

"Alright but after that I want you to sit and relax, Uncle Eric is coming by later with Aunt Lisa," Ray interjected, wanting to avoid an argument.

Emma nodded, but before she could get anything on the plate, a knock came at the door. Looking at Clay to follow her, she moved to open the door, unsure of anyone that would knock. All of her family would have just walked right on in, not bothering to knock. Looking through the peephole, Emma was relieved to see who was on the other side of the door.

"Uncle Charlie!" Emma threw herself at him, happy that he had stopped by, hopefully with some good news.

"Sir," Clay said, standing at attention, in slight disbelief that Emma was comfortable enough with the Captain to give him a bear hug in her home.

"Spenser," Harrington said with a nod. "Who's home Emma? Everyone?" Looking down at the girl, Harrington was filled with anger at the yellowing bruise on her face and the bandaids that littered her neck.

"We're waiting on Uncle Trent and Uncle Brock, they went out to go pick up Mikey from practice. Hannah and Jamie are still on their way, they went back to her place to talk to Aunt Victoria about … everything."

"And your daddy?" Harrington was deliberately avoiding mentioning anything before he could talk to Jason.

"Right here sir," Jason appeared next to Clay, confused as to why a Captain was in his house unannounced, hugging his daughter.

"Why don't we go into the kitchen. Uncle Charlie, we just got dinner if you're hungry?" Emma tried to move everyone away from the door. She had spotted James's truck in the driveway, but they hadn't come in yet. That either meant something really good or something really bad, but either way, they didn't need an audience.

"I'm alright Emma, Aunt Betty would have my hind if I ate before going home, tonight's pizza night." Walking with his around her shoulder, neither of them saw the confused look on Jason's face.

"You knew about this?" Jason cornered Clay, hoping that he was just as in the dark.

"I knew she called him this morning, she has a direct line to his cell. I don't know how she managed to get a favor from Captain Harrington of all people, but… If it helps is it such a bad thing?"

"I don't know kid, why is she playing politics and why did no one know about it?" Shaking his head, he walked into the kitchen to find Emma seated at the table, drinking a glass of water and listening to Harrington tell her a story from his glory days in the navy. His kid had a lot of explaining to do, hell there were a lot of people that had some explaining to do.

"And is that how you met George Stevens?" Emma asked, putting the pieces together after hearing the story.

"Yes, that's how I met the arrogant son of a bitch, looks like his kid is just as arrogant."

"Wait a minute, the kid that Hannah's tangled up with is Richard Stevens?" Clay interrupted, sure that he wasn't following the story correctly.

"You know him Clay?" Emma wanted to keep the two as far away from each other as possible, but it looks like the two knew each other before she would even get the chance to separate them.

"His dad operated with Ash when they were on the teams together, before I moved in with my grandparents they would stick Richie and I together when they got spun up, but Richie was a few years younger than I was, still a baby really. Kid was spoiled then, can't imagine what he's like now," Clay thought back to the toddler that seemed to follow him everywhere he went as a child and the tantrums that he threw when he didn't get his way.

"Oh he's still the same way," Hannah said walking in with red eyes, James not with her. "Arrogant, spoiled, used to getting what he wants. "Hi Uncle Charlie, thank you so much for everything."

"Hush, you don't even know what I did yet, if I even did anything." Harrington said, wrapping his arms around her. The child looked worn down, a thick white bandage tape to her forehead and a purple bruise around her neck, in the shape of fingerprints no less.

"Captain Harrington, I mean no disrespect here but can someone please explain. This is the second time in a row that I don't know what's happening with my daughter in as many days."

"Emma helped me and Betty out of a tight spot with our niece when she got herself into a spot of trouble, we gave the kids a get out of jail free card when they found her for us. Anything they needed, no strings attached. Which you've still got Em, I'm not counting this one."

"Which you didn't have to do Uncle Charlie, we would have helped her regardless." Emma said, sitting down at the table.

"I know you would Emma, but still. That was almost a year ago and Emily still talks about the three of you and how much she looks up to you, anything you need Emma. Betty and I will take care of it." Charlie Harrington made good on his promises. "Hannie he's going far, I transferred him and no one is going to be the wiser. Effective immediately."

Tears started dripping down Hannah's face, the man wasn't going to be near her anymore, she didn't have to worry when James deployed. "Uncle Charlie…" she said, burying her head in his arms, not seeing James walk into the room. Jerking her head at him, she glared until he got the hint, walking into the kitchen with her.

Not caring that Ray and Sonny were in the kitchen with Naima and the kids, she turned to James and whisper yelled, "You're deployment got moved up didn't it?"

"Emmie K," James said, trying to placate her.

"Don't Jamie. Did you tell her yet?"

"Yeah, when I picked her up. She's scared Em,"

"Don't be me, don't wait until you think you're going to lose her. Leave everything out on the table." Emma placed her hand on his shoulder, looking earnestly into his eyes. Sonny and Ray exchanged heavy glances with each other, they knew exactly which situation she was talking about. And they knew about their own upcoming deployment, but weren't sure if Clay had told Emma yet. This could get messy.

"I will Em, she's coming to stay with me instead of here with you. Especially now that the bastard is being transferred she feels safer. She just wanted to swing by and let you know so that you didn't panic when she wasn't here later tonight."

"Good, tell her that you love her James, life's too short." Emma squeezed his shoulder and left him standing in the kitchen.

Seeing the heavy look on the men's faces, a sinking realization came over James. "You're all deploying soon too aren't you?"

At their nods, James sighed and ran his hands over his face. This wasn't going to be good, at least Emma still had a few months with her family home. They wouldn't deploy until the next green team selections were finished.

When Emma walked back into the living room, Harrington was on his way out and Hannah was talking to her father, giving him a tearful hug before taking James' hand, walking out the front door. Her family was together, they were happy, and everyone was going to be safe for the evening. That's all Emma wanted. Seeing Clay sitting at the table dishing things out of their containers, she walked over to him and bumped his elbow.

"How you doing Emmie?" He asked, seeing a lightness in her eyes that was definitely not present last night.

"I'm much better, things are looking up Clay. You'll be home for a while, I don't have to worry about Hannah as much anymore, and Naima said that she would help me with Mikey for a little bit. Everything is being taken care of." Clay finished the last dish and set it on the table before bringing her close. The girl really was just like Jason, even though most people saw her as a mini Alana. Jason cared for everyone just like Emma did, and once they were all taken care of, they were much calmer.

"Good I'm glad honey," Emma took her plate and surprisingly snagged a beer from the counter before sitting down next to Clay, waiting for the boys to filter in with Naima and the kids. Brock, Trent and Mikey still weren't home, but Emma had a feeling that they had taken Mikey out for the supplies that he needed for his science experiment, they were sneaky that way. Taking a swig from her beer, she was happy, her head felt slightly fuzzy but she was safe and content just to hold Clay's hand on top of the table.

"Hey look at that, Sunshine's first beer!" Sonny exclaimed when he saw that she was drinking.

"Leave me alone Uncle Sonny, you've seen me drink beer before. Not my first one ever," Emma said, not wanting to argue with Sonny. She was far too relaxed.

"Just that one Emma," Jason said, coming to sit at the table with them, followed by Ray and Naima. Brock opened the door with Cerberus running forward to get rubs from Jameelah and Trent followed them hauling in Mikey's hockey bag in one hand and a bag from the craft store in another. She was right, they really did have everything in hand. Looking up at Clay, she was so grateful that he was in her life. Surrounded by her family, Emma hadn't been this peaceful since before her mom died, she liked the feeling. Once the meal was finished and everything was put away, Emma said goodbye to all of her Uncles. Giving one more big hug to Naima, she helped put Jameelah into the car and gave Cerberus one last belly rub before they all departed, leaving only Mikey, Clay, and her dad at the house. The storm had passed and now it was finally time to enjoy the time with her boyfriend and her family.

Clay and Mikey were on the couch playing some sort of shooter video game and her father was finishing cleaning the kitchen. Sitting down next to Clay, she felt her eyes droop shut, but she didn't fight the feeling of falling asleep, just leaned closer to Clay trusting that tomorrow she would go to class and come home to find him sitting around her table. Before Emma drifted off to sleep, she felt a soft kiss placed on the top of her head and inhaled the spicy scent of Clay's cologne and smiled, life was better than it had been in a long while.


End file.
